The Covenant III: The Wood's Hole Warlock
by RedRogue
Summary: In the wake of the exposure, the Covenant seeks refuge from a persecuting world, and finds secrets of their past that have long been buried. Maybe the Book of Damnation really DID reveal the origin of the Power... and its up to them to find out the truth.
1. Chapter 1: The Judgment

**The Covenant III:** _The Wood's Hole Warlock_

**-**

**Chapter 1:**

-

An elderly, bald man fixed a white, curled wig upon his head. The air was cold, and he was glad for the extra warmth, had this wig been placed on his head for any other reason than the reason tonight. He wasn't even sure if this man was guilty, but as a judge, he went by what the people voted. He wished he could change the crowd, but they had ruled against the man in question, so thus he bore no choice.

He sighed at the bearded, stocky man before him, then nodded to him in assurance that he was ready for the night's task. The stocky man then grabbed a rope that was hanging on the nearby brick wall, and the fiery torch that perched next to it, and ventured down the dark stone corridors only assuming that the judge would follow. The judge watched in pity and slight horror at the decaying prisoners that all begged for freedom, or even to be allowed the release of death. They all stank to high heaven, so horrid that the judge had to whip out his handkerchief just to stand it.

The stocky guard then stopped before one cell and patiently waited for the judge to catch up, then pointed inside without a word.

Judge Richards slowly looked into the cell, looking at the man in the dark of the musty prison, lit only with the spotlight of the moon through the one window. His wrists were bound in shackles, chained to the stone walls. His head was bowed, his long, dirty, matted hair fallen over his face so that you could not see his once handsome features. His clothes were tattered, dirty and worn, wearing only a long coat and buckled pants, but he was otherwise exposed in chest and feet.

Somehow, the judge assumed that if this man was really what they claimed, he could bust himself out of this prison at any moment. The very thought put the judge on edge. Why had he not tried already? Why did he not even struggle, or attempt to survive?

Then the convict looked up at the judge with his bright blue eyes, and Judge Richards immediately knew. Something else had defeated this man, stealing his soul and leaving only this empty shell behind. He was quite ready to die, and thus possessed no will to escape or even protest his fate.

As they led the prisoner through the door, the crowd gathered outside exploded in chaos and shouts, throwing rotten fruit and anything they could get their hands on. The long-haired condemned did not even flinch.

They led him to a stake already prepared, and the stocky guard bound him around it with the rope he held in his hands, as the judge began the rituals.

"John Putnam, you have been found guilty under the court of law for the practice of witchcraft against a citizen of Salem, Massachusetts."

The convict looked to the judge with the same eyes he had given him inside the jail, and it surprisingly pained him to see those eyes again. How he pitied the damned man... he knew what no other person did about why this man had done what he was going to die for, but it would serve no good.

The judge found the only other sources of pity for the ill-fated man, four others standing motionless in the crowd. Four other men, his closest friends, who carried expressions of utter shame, as if the conviction was their own.

"Because of your crimes, you will now be burned at the stake," --the judge waited for the mob's cheers to die down before continuing-- "The town minister will now forgive you of your final sins."

"I have nothing to forgive," John replied. "I loved her as the next man would love a woman. She only accused me to salvage the honor of her deceased husband. I will die honorably to save our child."

The minister than slapped John in the face for his blasphemy.

"A bastard child for a demon father!"

"I only turn the other cheek, minister," John mocked sinisterly. So the minister slapped him again on the other side, just to spite him.

"Your devil child will join you in hell," the minister growled.

The minister then opened his large black Bible and began to recite the final forgivenesses, all too gladly.

…_God loves, God forgives you of your crimes…_

The judge inconspicuously went close to John, to whisper in his ear:

"Your son will live to see tomorrow, I vow it."

…_Do not forsake His love, not deny His power…_

John seemed surprised, but looked to the judge with grateful eyes.

"Discreetly," John hissed. "My left pocket."

The judge slipped his hand quickly into John's trench-coat pocket, pulling out a large envelope stuffed with papers.

"I was going to let the secret die with me," John said. "But there is no hope for us."

…_Faced with the final judgment, let the Lord embrace you with open arms…_

"Us?" the judge repeated.

John smiled.

"Yes, Your Honor. We are both humanity _alike_."

…_May God have mercy on your soul…_

As the flames danced at his feet, John lifted his head to the sky, and closed his eyes. It would all be over soon. All there was to do now was try his best not to scream.

But as the fire ate through his thin leather shoes and started at his feet, then his legs, his yells pierced the night, growing louder and louder until he begged for death… screaming even louder than the roaring crowd…

_AAAHHHH!!_

-

"AAAHHHH!!!" Caleb screamed, as he jerked upright in bed, holding his sweaty forehead. His dreams were becoming more vivid by the day. Oddly enough, it was the same one, over and over again. Three days in a row this had been happening, at that was two too many to simply pass off as a weird nightmare.

"Again?" Pogue asked, as he opened the door to Caleb's room with concern on his face. "I heard yells…"

Caleb sighed heavily, running his hands over his tired face.

"It's probably just another one of Reid's pranks," Caleb shrugged it off. "No big deal."

Pogue blinked in stunned silence, shaking his head in disbelief.

"_Dude_…"

Caleb knew immediately what Pogue meant, and groaned in hatred of his own foolishness.

"_God_!" Caleb scolded himself angrily, as he furrowed his brow in frustration. "It's just so soon…"

"I know what you mean," Pogue replied sympathetically. "It's too soon for _all_ of us, man."

-

**Here we go again! Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	2. Chapter 2: The Aftermath of Death

**A/N: Hey people! I had 'Tyler age issues' anyway, and thought about it long and hard and decided that since this is a community for the movie, I would stick with the movieverse's view on things, including Tyler's age. This chapter has been revised to suit the movieverse, and not the comic. Thanks for your patience, and to Shimmerstar7 for bring this to my direct attention.**

**-**

**Chapter 2:**

-

Of course, there was rain that day. There was always rain on those kinds of days. The Heavens will always weep when you do; that's what they say.

But all of Heaven's tears could not hold a torch against Caleb's pain. His own tears were long cried out, and he possessed none left inside of him on this day.

He was surprised how easy the services for his mother were. People always complained about funerals, but he had lied and been the strong link of the Covenant for so long it almost was a robotic automation for him now. He said his speech with ease. He shook the hands of distant relatives with ease. He carried his mother's coffin, he watched it be put in the vehicle, be lowered into the grave… with an ease only skin deep.

Inside, he was screaming. No one can prepare for this sort of toll on a heart. No one can understand it but the person who has gone through the same.

Caleb was glad that Reid's mother had chosen a private cremation, so that he wouldn't have to go through another one of these horrible ceremonies. He was very grateful for that favor at least.

When the last of the mourners had gone, still Caleb remained, standing by the only thing left of his mother: her gravestone that he himself had picked out, spelling out her name in bold letters, and sitting right next to his father's own stone.

Caleb lifted his collar higher around his neck as the chill began to set in, the usual Ipswich fog starting to drift toward the cemetery, and finally Caleb decided it was time to go.

His eyes locked on the headstone of Evelyn Danvers, he knelt down and took a single white rose from his coat. He closed his eyes and kissed it tenderly, before laying it to rest upon her grave.

"I'll be seeing you, Mom," he said quietly, patted the stone once, before standing up and leaving the family graveyard behind. A new era had just begun. He could see that quite plainly now.

As he passed those woods next to his family's final resting place, the leaves began to rustle wildly in the wind. Caleb jerked his head up to the trees. Above the rainfall it was hard to hear much of anything, but he could swear he heard a growl of some sort.

He quickly shrugged it off as some animal. It would take more than strange noises to scare _him_…

-

The room was dark, no promising luminosity about the room. The fluorescents above flickered the very last of their light. A ghostly shape underneath a white sheet lay on a metal table in the center of the room, utterly lifeless and alone.

"_I'm going to get started on the boy, Dad."_

"_Alright, Ingrid."_

Voices came from outside of the door. Footsteps soon followed. The silver doorknob slowly turned, and the door opened.

"Hey there," the dark-haired woman said as she entered the room. "Today is your turn, my little witch friend! Cremation time! Sorry it took so long, but you know how the press can be."

She pulled back the sheet, and stared at the blonde on the table.

"People kinda think me talking to my subjects is a little weird, but with you, I can't really help it."

She smiled and stroked the side of the blonde's face. For days she had been tending to him, and had become the closest thing she had to a friend. Not many living people wanted to hang out with a mortician's daughter.

"You're just so handsome… and your powers-- wow. You must've been really something when you were alive. I'm going to miss our time together, I really am."

Ingrid stood up straight, and smiled fondly at the handsome, lifeless figure on the table.

"Whoops!" she laughed, in that hyena-ish way. "I forgot the stretcher! I'll be right back—don't you go nowhere!"

Laughing again at her own joke, she lifted the sheet back over the boy, and closed the door after herself.

Suddenly the ghostly figure under the white sheet jerked upright, the sheet floating off his face and chest to his lap, exposing his blond hair, blue eyes and bare torso. Shock overwhelmed the confusion on his face, taking in his surroundings like a wave. Finding no answers, he then began to investigate his own person, peeking under the sheet to find he wore no clothing.

When he stood, he took the sheet with him, wrapping it around himself like he would a towel after a shower. Slowly he scooted his legs over the side of the metal table, letting his naked feet touch the cold tile of the floor. As he did so, his clumsy elbow bumped the tool tray, making every scalpel fall to the floor with a loud clang.

"_Did you hear that?"_

The blonde whipped his head toward the voices coming from the other side of the door, his head and heart immediately racing. He flashed his eyes around the room for inspiration, whether it be for escape or even a simple hiding place.

Once more, the door opened, and Ingrid stepped inside, only to see an empty table.

She frowned, not being able to quite comprehend the sight before her.

"Um… Dad?"

-

Reid lowered himself from the window to the ground, and once his feet hit the cold earth, he ran as fast as he could, leaving those unfamiliar voices behind.

"How could you lose a dead man, Ingrid?" 

Reid ran all the way across the lawn, past the mortuary sign, and straight on to the highway.

In the distance, a large rig truck honked in protest of the barely clothed figure in the middle of the road. Reid put up his arms in his first instinct to protect himself, though he knew it wouldn't save him.

Suddenly the front of the huge big rig crumbled, as if it had smashed into an invisible wall. The back end of the truck even lifted clear off the ground at the sudden halt, and came slamming back down with a crash. What was left of the front end began to smoke and steam. The driver lowered his arms from around his face to look at the boy in the road.

The headlights blared onto the blonde, as he stared in wonder at his hands. Never had he had enough Power to do something like that? Had _he_ really done that?

Frightened by his own Power, Reid frowned and ran into the trees, leaving the driver completely in shock.

Reid ran through the night forest, wondering where he was, what he was running from—if he was really himself. He didn't feel himself Using… how did it happen?

When he reached a clearing, he stopped, panting hard to catch his breath. He held his hand to his forehead, considering the possibility he had gone mental.

Suddenly, in the forest clearing, two red eyes opened and stared straight at him.

"Anyone there?" he said shakily, completely baffled at the situation at hand. "Please, help me!"

He froze when those eyes began to growl.

"Oh, shit," he mumbled, then slowly began to backtrack.

Whatever was in this forest with him began to move, the glow of those eyes growing larger by the second. Those footsteps began to advance on Reid, the light overwhelming him somehow.

"No," he said, scrambling to get away. "I've seen you before…!"

The growls only came closer, the light going white and became so large the forest resembled day.

"Oh, God," he breathed. "NO! Not me! _Please_!"

Then it pounced, and all fell black. The only thing left was his screams.

"_Nooooo!!_"

-

Caleb fished through his drawers intently, searching hard for one certain item. Sighing when his eyes finally landed on it, Caleb lifted the sweater out of his father's dresser and stared at it with a grim smile. It boasted 'Harvard' in bold letters across the front. He planned on taking it with him.

He stuffed it atop all of the other things in his trunk, and caught sight of the pictures on his father's shelf of his mother.

Caleb walked slowly to one, barely breathing as he took it out of the frame to stare at it directly. He was just a baby in this photo, but his mother looked so young and beautiful, his father so proud and dashing as he remembered him.

There was no use in forgetting, he decided. Caleb immediately slid the photo in the pocket of his trunk and began to buckle it closed.

"Hey," said a female voice from the doorway. Caleb lifted his head to the familiar voice, forcing a smile at his girlfriend. Smiles didn't used to be so hard, especially toward Sarah, but recently, even getting out of bed, eating and breathing had become drastic obstacles.

"You almost ready?" she asked gently. Of late she always talked that cautious way to him, almost as if she was afraid of him, like he would snap if she made any sudden moves. "The others are waiting outside for you."

"Yeah, I got it," Caleb assured her, going to his large window and opening it wide. Letting his eyes fall black, he lifted his trunk into the air, and let it hover for a moment as he called down to his friends below.

"Tyler, Pogue, head's up!"

With that, Caleb let the trunk fly down two stories, straight down to his friends, whose eyes quickly fell the same empty black as their leader. Pogue, the taller of the two, lifted his hands to the trunk as if to catch it, but instead caused it to float down to him like a mere feather, and directed it into the back of Tyler's Hummer.

"Man," Tyler complained for the millionth time that day. "I still can't believe we're actually going to _Harvard_."

Pogue rubbed the younger boy's hair affectionately.

"Don't start picking out cap and gowns yet, Baby Boy," Pogue teased. "This isn't going to be just another day at Spenser."

"Are you kidding?" Tyler insisted, stuffing his duffle in behind Caleb's trunk. "After what we went through at Spenser, this will be a piece of cake. I'm going to be a lawyer if I have to become a _hermit_ _monk_ to do it. No distractions."

Pogue closed the back door of the Hummer shaking his head at his younger 'Covenant brother'.

"Yeah, you just wait," Pogue promised. "All kinds of college hotties are going to be there this year, and since Caleb and I are both spoken for… _You_, my friend, are going to have your pick of them _all_ to yourself. We'll see who's the 'monk' then, won't we?"

Tyler shut up after that, apparently not realizing that factor, and considering it carefully. Caleb then came out his front door, holding it open to allow Sarah passage. She took her place beside Kate and the other boys.

Caleb then locked the door firmly, then took a step back to stare at his old home. Many memories were housed inside those walls, some unpleasant, some wonderful, but all worthwhile.

"Are you really going to sell it, Caleb?" Kate asked with sadness in her voice.

Caleb snapped out of his trance in Memory Lane and turned his back to the place promptly.

"Why not?" he retorted shortly. "Gorman doesn't want it, I don't have a use for it. It's just going to sit there, empty. Let it be someone else's problem."

Kate exchanged glances with Pogue, but shrugged it off and let it go. Caleb climbed into the car, followed by Tyler who had agreed to drop them off and help them get settled in. They, in turn, agreed to do the same for him when he started school next week.

The others followed their example and climbed in as well, Sarah letting out a cheer in excitement as they made their way to the college all of them had been dreaming of since they had stepped foot in Spenser.

"Harvard, here we come!" Sarah called out. "No one's earned it more than us."

"You got _that_ right," Caleb agreed, turning his gaze out the window as Tyler drove off. He was really going to miss that house, but more importantly, the people that had made it a home to begin with.

-

**Thanks for reading and please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	3. Chapter 3: The Return of Reid

**A/N: Hey people! I had 'Tyler age issues' anyway, and thought about it long and hard and decided that since this is a community for the movie, I would stick with the movieverse's view on things, including Tyler's age. Chapter 2 has been revised to suit the movieverse, and not the comic. Thanks for your patience, and to Shimmerstar7 for bring this to my direct attention.**

**-**

**Chapter 3:**

-

Caleb straightened his clothes in his new dresser, satisfied that they were folded and neatly put in a row, and closed the drawer. He took a good look around the dorm room that would be his new home. Tyler, who had insisted on being his roommate over Pogue in light of his old roommate's death. He said not having a familiar person like Reid around would make things even harder. Pogue had made them both swear to look out for one another, while Pogue was the one who claimed the adventurous route of getting a new roommate.

Caleb glanced over at Tyler, who was also getting settled. Caleb sighed as he watched Tyler grab his small duffel, overturn it over his drawer, throw the bag aside and shove the drawer closed.

"Well, _my_ packing's done," he said with a grin. "I'm going out to explore my last day of freedom before I take my vow of solvency."

"Knock yourself out," Caleb said as he shook his head and waved him off.

Tyler nodded and walked out the door, waving to Kate down the hall with Sarah before heading over to Pogue's room.

He tapped the door lightly as he poked his head in the room. A strange man was already there, unpacking his things.

"Oh, sorry," Tyler stumbled. "I was looking for Pogue?"

"Oh, I'm afraid ye just missed 'im, mate," the raven-haired boy said with a thick Irish accent. It was the first thing Tyler noticed. The second thing was his set of large, striking blue eyes that rivaled his own. It was no wonder he had a picture of a beautiful, dark-haired woman that he was just positioning on his nightstand, which was no doubt his girlfriend.

"Are you the Caleb or the Tyler?" he asked intently, heading over to another box.

Tyler offered his hand politely for the stranger to shake and grinned at the joke.

"I would be 'the Tyler'."

"Right, then," the handsome boy nodded back, shaking his hand firmly and going back to his work. "I'm Gabriel, Pogue's new roomie. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, from how close Pogue says you all are."

Tyler nodded in submission.

"I'm sure we will."

"You're welcome to wait fer 'im, er--"

"No, no," Tyler said, inching his way back out the door. "I'll come back later."

"Alright, well, it was nice meeting you besides."

"You too," Tyler said, heading out the door, and closing it after him.

He then turned a little too quickly down the hall, and slammed right into a girl who was just heading for that very door. The cup of coffee she was holding poured all over her bleach white shirt, showing the white bra she was wearing underneath. She called out in pain, the boiling hot water burning her chest.

"Oh my god, I am SO sorry!" Tyler said, looking around the hall for something she could use to wipe off the hot liquid. Still she squealed in pain, and Tyler found nothing in the empty halls, so he resorted to taking off his own shirt and handing it over for her to use.

"Here!" he insisted when she gave him a strange look. Needing no further convincing, she dabbed the wet spots immediately.

When she was finished, she held the black shirt over her chest, trying to maintain her modesty in front of the boy. She stared back at Tyler, who was now standing before her shirtless, and sighed with grateful relief.

"Wow," Tyler said. "I'm such a klutz, I wasn't even looking--"

"It's fine, really," she insisted with a sharp impatience in her tone, but when she followed Tyler's handsome, bared chest up to a handsome face, she couldn't help but smile.

"It's not everyday a guy will give you the shirt off his back to help a gal out."

Tyler smiled smoothly, trying his best to be charming for the gorgeous lady.

"You can keep it… Believe it or not, I brought more."

She chuckled cutely, slipping it on over her head to wear until she made it back to her dorm to change.

"Consider my gratitude yours."

Tyler peered at her closely, suddenly recognizing her from that picture on Gabriel's nightstand. _She_ was the girlfriend. His heart plummeted. Why did they always like someone _else_?

"I'm Layla," she said.

"Tyler," he replied flatly, his bubble of enthusiasm having been burst. "And, I should get another shirt."

"You could, but where would be the fun in that?"  
Tyler frowned. His flirt radar was flashing wildly. She followed it up with a hair flip and a sexy grin, confirming that she was indeed, interested. Why was this _taken_ girl hitting on him?

"I'll see you around, huh?" she said with a broad smile.

Oh, she was _definitely_ checking him out as she went into Pogue and Gabriel's room. Tyler grinned smugly to himself, then decided to let it go. He wasn't one to go after taken girls, no matter how pretty they were, or how nice of a figure they flaunted around so gracefully…

Tyler shook his head out of it and hurriedly found solace back in his dorm with Caleb, shoved the door behind him with a loud _bang_. The older boy was just finishing a conversation on the phone when he barreled in.

"Alright, we'll be right down," Caleb promised whoever was on the other end of the line, then flipped his phone closed.

"Caleb, you will not believe what just happened--" Tyler started, grabbing another shirt from his drawer, but Caleb cut him off.

"Neither will you," he retorted. "We have a little situation back in Ipswich."

-

"Mr. Danvers?" said an old man, who came forward with a clipboard in hand. "Mr. Sims, Mr. Parry." He nodded to the other two. "Come with me."

Caleb felt a little funny to be walking through the hospital with the feeble doctor. It was eerily cold in the place, and every hall was poorly lit with dim fluorescents. The familiar Ipswich storms outside made the dependant window lighting almost nonexistent.

"This way," the doctor lead them on. "We had to put him in a special ward to keep the questions away, but of course, there are still questions. This is quite the phenomenon… but then again, you all are to begin with, aren't you?"

Caleb grinned politely and kept his pace, not ready to believe what they had informed him until he had seen it with his own eyes.

"Right in here," the doctor said, opening the door for them to go through. One by one they laid their eyes to rest on the blond's sleeping body, hooked up to an IV, a pacemaker, a breathing monitor, and other various machines.

"My God," Pogue gasped in disbelief. "_Reid_... It's really _him..._!"

"Oh, it gets better," the doctor warned. "A girl at the mortuary that was handling his affairs claimed to have gone out for a minute, heard a noise in his room, and came back to find him _missing_."

Caleb's head whipped back to the doctor in surprise.

"_What_?"

"Then," the doctor went on. "He turns up in that exact room, right where she left him, two hours later. And he was breathing. She called us right away. His breathing comes and goes so we had to hook him up to the monitor, but it's steadying. Slowly. On his records, Mr. Danvers, you and your mother were the first on his list of contacts. I thought you might want to know."

"Thank you," Caleb muttered to him. Caleb cautiously went closer to his friend, who now looked so fragile so close to death again. He had to admit he still couldn't comprehend his friend coming back to life, but knew in the back of his mind how it could be so. The _Book of Damnation_ had recorded something like this before in the Garwin line, where the Power would heal you involuntarily, but never had it been postmortem.

"I can't believe it," Tyler said breathlessly. "He's really _alive_?"

"Barely," Pogue said, glancing at the monitor screens. "His lines have a lot of flat areas."

"You should have seen him before," the doctor commented, looking up from his clipboard. "His heart's pace used to be _entirely_ flatlined up until a few hours ago. He would _breathe_ without a heartbeat. It's completely amazing."

Caleb eyed the grayish tinge in Reid's skin, pitying the fight that must be going on subconsciously in his mind. A fight for his life.

"Tell me," the doctort asked Caleb. "Have you ever seen anything like this before? In your 'special' line of people, I mean."

Caleb couldn't help but think that he made them all out to sound like a group of handicapped children, but shoved the thought aside to answer.

"Uh... no," he answered honestly. "Not like this."

"Well," the doctor said with a sigh. "Hopefully you can arouse some life out of him. He seems to respond best when people are around, and I can already tell familiar people are even better."

The doctor motioned to the screen, which now showed no traces of flatlining anywhere.

"I'll be right outside if you need me," the doctor said, then closed the door after himself, leaving them all in utter silence. Tyler was the first to break it.

"We should call Elle," he announced.

"But she's all the way back in Connecticut with her mother," Pogue argued. "She shouldn't have to drive all the way down here just to see Reid as a vegetable."

"Wouldn't _you_ want to know?" Caleb countered, taking Tyler's side on this one. "_I_ would."

Pogue sighed and waved Tyler off.

"Yeah, you're right..."

"Man," Caleb said, shaking his head. "Won't _she_ be in for a surprise..."

-

**Thanks for reading and please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	4. Chapter 4: The Awakening

**Chapter 4:**

-

Caleb ran his hands over his face as he sat in his waiting room chair, just outside Reid's hospital room. They'd been here for what seemed an eternity, for the rest of the day and now into the night, and still no more response from Reid than when they had arrived. Kate and Sarah had came and gone, at Caleb's insistence. Caleb knew they had classes in the morning, but all of them couldn't bear to leave him, so they had agreed to tag team it. This was supposed to be Caleb's opportunity to sleep, but it refused to come. Pogue was currently with Reid, while Tyler was off on the phone trying to get a hold of Reid's mother and Elle.

There was a strange feeling in the air that was hindering his sleep, and he knew it. He'd been feeling it for a while now, a sort of cloudy smog in the atmosphere. This confused Caleb, considering they were in a hospital with air filters in every room.

Something was not right, and it was making him on edge, to the point that he couldn't sit still, couldn't get comfortable.

Suddenly, a small puff of black smoke started to stream out from underneath Reid's door, like there was a fire inside. Alarmed, Caleb rose to his feet, staring closely at it with all confusion.

"Someone?" he called, but no one was around. The halls were empty, which was really, really odd. The smoke detectors above began to sound.

"Hey!" Caleb called. "Anyone, _help_!!"

Caleb flung open the door, and was met with a gust of even more black smoke, so thick he could barely see.

"Reid!" he yelled, hearing the monitors going crazy. He fought his way through the black surrounding him, coughing a bit as he breathed it in. Then he spotted Reid, still lying motionless on the hospital bed, fires all around him. The haze was so dark he wasn't sure, but he could swear he saw a red light coming from Reid's sleeping form, a sort of laser-like glow...

"Reid!" he yelled. "REID!"

-

"Caleb!" Tyler said with worry, shaking Caleb by the shoulder to rouse him.

"Wha--?" Caleb fluttered open his eyes quickly, trying to gather his surroundings. He was still in the hospital chair, in the middle of the waiting room. He was drenched with sweat, and panting hard.

"You were having a nightmare-- are you okay?" Tyler asked with concern.

Caleb frowned, looking around the room, his eyes landing on Reid's door.

"Yeah," he said, mostly to convince himself. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Tyler combed a flustered hand through his already messy hair, and sighing loudly in fatigue.

"Elle said she's almost here," he explained for Caleb. "I still can't get a hold of Mrs. Garwin."

His eyes turned to the door bearing the number '588', his weary eyes knowing the answers to the questions he was about to ask, but still he asked them.

"Pogue in there with him?"

"Yeah," Caleb replied in a low voice.

"Still no change?"

Caleb sighed again, wishing there was a different reply than what was truth.

"Not that I know of."

"When Elle gets here, you should go," Tyler said responsibly. "You need the sleep more than us--"

"--I'm not going to sleep anyway," Caleb insisted. "You guys go now, and I'll wait up for Elle. Get rested for the first day."

Tyler didn't seem convinced, but as usual didn't have the guts to argue with the 'fearless leader'.

"Alright, I'll go get Pogue," he consented, then went to the door. Caleb slowly followed, wishing sorely that his mother were here to offer some sort of advice, or even comfort. But he was on his own in this. So what else was new, even when she was alive?

Caleb scolded himself at the harsh thought. She had been a good mother to him, even through the alcoholism. He had seen what a bad mother looked like, and that was in the form of Mrs. Garwin.

Caleb stared at the lifeless mound that was Reid, wishing somehow to be in his stead. In the past he had always wished ill fate on his Covenant brother, or some sort of bad Karma to pay him back for his trouble-making behavior, but now… Caleb regretted ever even thinking of such a indiscrepancy.

"Hey, buddy," Caleb said as he sat down in the chair beside Reid's bed. "How's it goin' in there? Still fighting the good fight?"

Caleb leaned his elbows on his knees, balling his hands together in front of his mouth in deep concentration.

"I always wondered what life would be like if you weren't here," Caleb said with a smile. "I gotta tell ya: I _already_ don't like it. It's pretty boring and I have too much free time because I'm not baby-sitting you all the time… Well, not counting today, of course."

Caleb made sure to keep a close eye on his monitor, looking for changes, but so far, there was none. Just the normal slow rhythm of the beeps.

"I wish you would wake up," he muttered. "Harvard won't be the same without you."

He leaned back in his chair.

"You know, Elle's coming to see you."

Caleb looked up at the screen, hearing the beeps come a little faster.

"Yeah... you get excited for _her_, now, don't you?" Caleb couldn't help but chuckle.

"She's a sweet girl, Reid. Too sweet for _you,_ to be sure... She couldn't stand this town after you were gone. She moved away so fast... back with her mother, I think. She said there was nothing left for her here..."

Caleb furrowed his brow in bewilderment.

"And now you're _back_," he said with a sigh.

He sat for a few moments in silence, feeling silly for talking to an unconscious boy, even if he was a Covenant brother. He was glad no one was around to witness it.

"Knock, knock…" Elle said, tapping the door as she inched into the room. Caleb breathed in abruptly, slightly startled at her sudden appearance.

She looked different; he noticed that right off. Caleb hadn't seen her since she left. She had done something different to her mahogany hair, straightened it out and cut it, and put more make-up on around her sea-blue eyes. She appeared tired from her long trip, a hot cup of coffee in her hand, equipped for a long night's watch.

"Hey, Elle," Caleb said, standing up to greet her. "You look good."

"You too," she replied politely as they embraced. Her eyes drooped with pity, glued to Reid on the bed.

"How bad is he?" she asked.

"Not good," Caleb answered truthfully. "They don't think he'll _ever_--"

Suddenly Reid's monitors began to beep like they had set off an alarm. Caleb froze, his dream coming back to haunt him all over again, while Elle took immediate action, fetching a doctor. Caleb was stunned as he watched Reid's body began to convulse, shaking violently as if in some sort of a seizure. Black liquid began to drip out of the corner of his pale mouth.

"Alright, please clear the area!" one doctor commanded, pushing Caleb aside. The doctors were all around, in white coats, shouting orders at those lesser in rank.

"Give him a shot of diazepam, stat!"

"Someone hold him down!"

Reid's heartline suddenly went flat, but he was still visibly breathing. His shaking stopped at once.

"Oh, my God, he's crashing!" the woman doctor yelled, ripping the hospital gown apart to get at Reid's bare chest. "I need a defibrillator, _now_!"

Caleb watched in horror from the corner of the room, as Elle held onto his arm in fear.

"CLEAR!" the doctor shouted, shocking Reid. No response came. His flatlined heart alarm streamed through the room. "Still nothing. Charge it again!"

"Oh, my God, I can't watch him die again!" Elle sobbed, hiding her face in Caleb's shoulder.

"Someone get that girl out of here!"

Caleb nodded and quickly herded Elle out, just as the doctors were ready to give Reid another shock.

"_CLEAR_!"

Caleb sat Elle down on a waiting room chair, as she put her head in her hands.

"I can't stand this, I can't!" she cried, then looked up at Caleb with tearful eyes. "Is it always this way with you guys?"

Caleb sat down next to her and put an encouraging arm around her shoulder.

"Reid's _always_ been an emotional roller-coaster, but never like this."

"Good work everyone," the doctor said with a loud sigh as they exited the room. His face was saddened, and Caleb immediately feared the worst, bolting to his feet.

"Is he...?" Caleb struggled to ask.

"Oh no," the doctor assured him. "He's perfectly fine. You may go back in now."

Elle let out a breath of a relief, taking Caleb's hand and rising to her feet.

As they entered the room, a nurse was just finishing wiping up the black substance from Reid's mouth, looking down on it with disgust.

"What is that?" Elle asked Caleb.

"Those with the Power are born with an extra organ that produces the stimulants in Using," Caleb whispered back so the nurse wouldn't hear. "That black stuff only comes out when we convert-- or, when we first get our Power, at puberty. I don't understand why it's happening _now..._"

Elle looked up at Caleb with a frown, not liking his bewildered tone. She could sense that something was definitely wrong with this picture.

"Mr. Danvers!" the nurse practically shouted, waving Caleb over in a hurry. "Look!"

Caleb looked over, saw Reid stirring in bed, groaning softly. No one could speak, lest they jinx it.

Reid's eyes then slowly fluttered open, taking a moment to focus on the nurse hovering above him.

"Who the hell are you?" he said quite abruptly to the nurse standing over him.

The nurse stuttered, not knowing how to respond, but she didn't need to, for Elle had already flung herself at Reid.

"Whoa!" Reid said with a smile. "Women all around, me naked in a white room in a white bed... Shocking, I must have made it into heaven!"

"Oh, shut up, Reid!" Elle laughed, kissing his cheek repeatedly.

Reid sat up while the nurse got busy checking his vitals. Reid waved her off.

"Hey, cut it out!" he commanded her. "I'm fine."

"You were dead not two minutes ago, Reid!" Caleb explained with surprise.

"Yeah, yeah," Reid said, scratching his chin. "Tell me something I _don't_ know."

The nurse tried to reach a cuff to his arm to check his blood pressure, but he flicked her hand away.

"You _touch_ me, I'll sue."

The nurse backed off immediately, gathering her things and leaving the room. Caleb raised an eyebrow at Reid's brashness, but let it go.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright, Reid?" Caleb asked with concern.

"I'm alive, aren't I? Shit!" Reid said. "I just come back and you're already all on me?!"

Elle suddenly gasped, the same time Caleb took an abrupt step away from Reid.

"What's the matter _now_?" Reid demanded.

"You're Using, Reid," Caleb explained.

"_What_?" Reid spat back with a chuckle. "No, I'm not!"

"Are you sure about that?" he asked cynically.

"Caleb, I think I'd _know_ whether or not I was..."

Elle lunged at the metal tray of the doctor's tools, shoving everything off of it and holding it up for Reid to see his own reflection.

His eyes were pure black.

-

**Thanks for everyone's continued support. You rock my socks off. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	5. Chapter 5: The Glitch

**Chapter 5:**

-

Tyler jerked up his head from his textbook, interrupting his reading in preparation for class the next morning. It was so strong he nearly fell over.

Someone was Using. It was screaming so loud in his head he could barely think, let alone try an ignore it. His breath went immediately ragged, sweat beats forming on his head. And then it was gone.

Just like that, it was like it was never there at all. Tyler tried to catch his breath, gather his composure, recovering from the major blow. It wasn't strange to feel the others Using, not when he was so close to Ascending, but something like this was too great to simply shrug off.

He started a bit when there came a loud knock at his door. Pogue entered without waiting for Tyler to give him an invitation.

"Did you feel it?" Pogue asked desperately. "It's more than I've ever felt before."

"Yeah, I felt it just now."

Tyler furrowed his brow. Pogue wasn't Using. Since Chase had been stripped of his access to the Power in their last battle, that could only mean two other people could be Using at that moment. Caleb wasn't one to Use at that magnitude… but would Reid?

Tyler grabbed at his car keys, and Pogue nodded in agreement.

"Let's go."

-

Reid stared at his eyes in the silver reflection of the tray. They were pitch black, even though he didn't feel as if he was Using. But as he looked at himself, he began to feel something… else. A tingling feeling in his toes, then his fingers. Then a dizziness in his head.

"Reid, are you alright?" Elle asked with concern.

But Reid could not speak. There was a knot inside of his throat, and he suddenly had a strange feeling like the tingling sensation was traveling from his toes, to up his legs, continuing up his torso and finally settling in his head, only adding to the wooziness. Reid put his hand to his head, falling weaker by the minute. For a moment or so he teetered, as if ready to faint at any moment.

Caleb watched as Reid suddenly went limp, almost falling off the bed. Caleb dove to catch him just in time.

Reid's eyes were still open even through his apparent fainting episode, and he shook it off as if coming back from a trance. Caleb thought he spotted Reid's black eyes flicker red for just a moment, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Reid, are you sure you're okay?" Caleb said. Then Reid looked up at Caleb and smiled.

But no, it wasn't any normal smile. It was a broad, open-toothed smile, showing every pearly-white he possessed. It was almost… creepy. It reminded Caleb of the Joker. Elle seemed worried about it as well, and Caleb saw her glance at him with concern out of the corner of his eye.

"Swell," Reid replied through his smile. His voice was low and forced. "Just swell."

Except that his eyes were still black.

He stood up, getting out of his bed, not seeming to care that he was barely clothed in a thin hospital gown. He looked at Elle as if for the first time. Worried and a little scared, she backed away from him.

"Hello, dearest," he said with a chuckle in his voice, advancing on her with a hungry look in his eye. "Did you miss me?"

"Reid, stop it," she commanded. "You're making me nervous."

He took a deep breath with all the oxygen his lungs would allow, and let it out with a big sigh.

"You smell that?" he asked. "The air, it's so… _fresh_."

"Reid, maybe you better lie down again and let the doctor have a look at you," Caleb urged worriedly, trying to herd Reid back to the bed.

But as soon as Caleb made a sudden move, Reid immediately attacked, blasting him right through the hospital room door and out into the waiting room. Elle squealed in surprise, jumping backward into the corner.

Reid looked to his own hands with admiration.

"Nice," he said with approval.

"Oh, my God, Reid!" Elle shouted as if near tears. "What are you doing—he's your _friend_!"

Reid turned back to Elle, smile still firmly in place.

"Oh, did you like that, baby? Wanna see more where that came from?"

She whimpered in fear of him as he threateningly advanced on her again.

"No, Reid, _please_ don't…"

"What's the matter, baby?" Reid asked in a loud voice, as doctors and nurses outside began to talk among themselves about the commotion, looking in awe at the new gaping hole in the wall. One nurse helped Caleb back on his feet.

Reid planted his palms on the wall on either side of Elle's head, staring right into her eyes.

"Didn't you _want_ me to come back?" Reid went on. "Oh, I get it. You think I'm going to take advantage of you. I forgot you've had bad _experiences_ with that in the past. Still getting over that feeling of helplessness, are we? Still trying to get rid of those vivid memories in your head… That knowledge of being violated without any way to stop it…"

"Reid," she begged, squeezing her eyes shut. "Please stop…"

Reid grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him again. He let his tongue roll out like a snake, the tip just grazing her cheek. She let out another whimper, this time in disgust.

"All I can remember about being alive is how much I wanted you…" he hissed. "How much I had to hold back… How much I wanted to just DO you right where you stood… But no… you were always too afraid… Too _damaged_…"

He spoke as if her pain was a joke. Elle couldn't take it for another second, shoving him roughly away from her, but he held strong, laughing in amusement.

"Get away from me, you _bastard_!" she choked. "What's the _matter_ with you?"

"_Life_, dearest!" he replied. "I'm finally experiencing it in all its glory! Being dead can make you realize how short it actually is. And now, I'm going to experience you… what do you say?"

"Reid!" Caleb called from behind. "_I_ say you leave her alone."

Reid turned around.

"And who asked for _your_ opinion?"

With that, Reid blasted him again, the workers around screaming in shock as Caleb crashed into the nearby counter, papers flying everywhere.

"Reid, what are you _DOING_?" Elle shouted, punching him repeatedly in his back, trying frantically to knock some sense into the insane boy. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes now.

Reid turned around and grabbed her flying arms with each hand, picking them easily out of midair. Elle cried out in pain as he squeezed his fingers into her forearms, his eyes crazed with anger. He knew quite well of his dominance over her.

"Reid, you're hurting her!" Caleb called to him through his own pain, struggling to get back on his feet once more. "Reid, stop! This is _Elle_ we're talking about here! Reid… you _hurting_ _ELLE_!"

Reid twitched, like a machine with a loose bolt. That's when Caleb saw a glimmer of hope, saw a hint of a way out. Reid's eyes raced, as if confused. He slowly released his hold on Elle.

"Oh, _shit_…" he breathed, looking at the damage in the wall, then at the injured Caleb. "What did I just _do_?"

Elle and Caleb both looked to Reid in utter surprise. Reid's eyes fell pitiful, apologetic. And back to _normal_.

"Oh, God, Elle," Reid said, trying to embrace her in comfort, but she quickly backed away.

"Don't you touch me," she snapped.

"No, Elle, you don't understand--" he coaxed, but she wouldn't have it.

"Don't you _EVER_ come near me again!" she growled, then hurriedly rushed off out of sight, her hand to her nose as if continuing her flow of tears.

Reid watched her go with a helpless look in his eyes, which turned into a discouraged frown.

"Caleb," he breathed, his racing heart pounding through his ribcage. "I have a serious problem."

"Gee. Ya think?" was Caleb's snotty reply from behind him.

-

**I'll bet you all are thoroughly confused now-- LOL. Don't worry, the next chapter will pick up, and explanations are coming soon. The same thing happened in Cov 2, if I remember correctly, that one took a while to take off as well. Anyway, please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**

**PS. Oh yeah, and before I forget, I was going to do that _Crickes_ thing and let you have a glimpse of things to come, since my next update won't be for a while:**

**Gabriel:** Hey, I saw you on the news. You're one of those 'Sons of Ipswich', aren't you?  
**Pogue: **Our fame precedes us.  
**Gabriel: **You have _no_ idea…

**Caleb:** Man, this Doctor Jeckyll/ Mr. Hyde thing of Reid's sure gets old _fast_.

**Layla:** Up for some _real_ fun, Birthday Boy?  
**Tyler: **What about Gabriel?  
**Layla: **What _about_ him?

**Pogue:** You'd better get out of here before my fiancée catches us…

**Caleb:** I feel like I'm in a stinkin' soap opera… I miss the good ol' days when all I had to worry about was school and the other's Using too much.

**Reid:** Are you breaking _up_ with me, Elle?  
**Elle:** That depends... Which Reid are you _now_?

**That should do it. I will leave you with this final word… As they say: "you never know with the Rogue"…**


	6. Chapter 6: The Haunting Past

**Chapter 6:**

**-**

"So you're saying he remembered _every single thing_?" Pogue spat out in disbelief, folding his arms and sitting on his own bed. Once they had made it back to the college, they had gone to Caleb and Tyler's dorm to get a minute alone to talk before they left to get Reid registered.

"Every single thing," Caleb replied. "He said it was like he had an evil twin. He's admitting it was _him_, just… eviler."

"Are you sure he's not just making that up to excuse his behavior?" Tyler asked.

"Hey, jerkface, I'm not _dead_ anymore," Reid insisted stepping out from the corner of the room. "I can hear you-- I'm standing right here. Wanna include me in the conversation?"

"Sorry," Tyler said shamefully. "This just sounds a little far-fetched, even for us."

"You haven't heard the best of it yet," Caleb piped in. "Tell 'em what you told me on the way back, Reid."

Reid frowned and folded his arms defiantly. Caleb recognized that look. It was the look Reid gave when he was too embarrassed to admit something, so he would act rebellious to cover for it.

So Caleb sighed to show his disproval, then explained it himself.

"Reid thinks he saw the Warlock again."

Tyler and Pogue immediately stood up a little straighter, concern immediately spreading across their faces. Memories flashed in their eyes, their minds racing to their beginnings. It seemed so long ago, that some had even forgotten about their first enemy, one that had caused them so much terror and pain back in the day. They each knew that name all too well…

-

_August 6, 2001_

-

"Reid, Tyler, com'on!" a young boy called through the hazy fog in the dark trees. He had to admit these woods spooked him at night, only because he always heard things out here that he had never heard before… unnatural things…

And he was hearing them again.

It was off in the direction Reid and Tyler were staring with equal fear, deep into the darkened forest. A low growl at first, shuffling of tree leaves, stomping of hard earth, and only getting closer by the second.

"Oh, my God!" Tyler yelled in fear, as the creature slowly came into view. Only its long sword-like claws came through at first in the moon's dim lighting. Tyler didn't stick around to see the rest, immediately bolting off toward and past Caleb. Pogue, who stood near Caleb, only waited on Caleb to come as well, his eyes begging him to run. Caleb's eyes were currently watching Reid, who still hadn't moved.

"Reid, this isn't cool anymore!" Caleb called to him. "Reid!"

He mumbled something Caleb couldn't make out from the far distance.

"What?"

"My _foot's_ caught!" Reid yelled louder.

That's when the beast came through even more, and Caleb heard Pogue gasp from behind him. Caleb told himself not to look at it, not to let his fear get the better of him. He had to help his friend. He kept his eyes fixed on his target, not letting them fall anywhere but on Reid and he trudged right through the muddy earth under his feet to go to him.

"Caleb, what are you doing?" Pogue yelled desperately. "This is crazy—we have to get _out_ of here!"

"I'm not leaving without him!" Caleb called back. Caleb could almost feel the hot breath of it on him as he came closer and closer.

Suddenly, a clawed hand came crashing down on Reid's leg, yanking him flat on his face and pulling him towards the trees.

"CAALLEEBB!"

-

"Caleb!" Tyler shook him out of his trance. "Welcome back to the real world, buddy! You daydreaming again?"

Caleb shook it off.

"Naw, I was thinking about the night when we first saw that thing."

"Weren't we all?" Pogue piped in.

"I try to block that out," Tyler admitted.

All eyes fell to Reid, who was being surprisingly quiet at a time like this. All of his Covenant brothers knew the effects that night had on him, and it was safe to say the Warlock was a touchy subject to the boy.

Noticing the concerned faces of his friends, Reid glared at their piteous looks and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him.

Pogue shook his head.

"He sure took that night the hardest out of us," he commented.

"And for good reason," Caleb added. "He got it the worst."

"He always used to tell me about the nightmares he had about it," Tyler said. "I think this is the one thing he truly fears. I mean, like, phobic, paranoid, scared shitless kind of fear."

"If he's right about this," Caleb said seriously. "And that thing is back, we have to do something about it before it effects someone else beside Reid."

"Hopefully no one will be dumb enough to venture out into the woods at night," Pogue said.

"Yeah, one can only hope."

-

"I've seen you somewhere before, haven't I?" Gabriel asked Pogue, as he curled up on his bed with a book. Pogue was currently in the bathroom brushing his teeth, but froze at the question.

"I don't know-- _have_ you?" was his snotty reply. Pogue had to admit he was grumpiest before sleep.

"Hey, I saw you on the news," Gabriel said decidedly. "Yer one of those 'Sons of Ipswich' aren't you?"

"Our fame precedes us," Pogue said, before he rinsed and spit.

"You have _no_ idea," Gabriel explained through his thick Irish accent, placing a marker in his book and setting it aside. "I heard you boys were comin' here—I just didn't think I'd be _roomin'_ with one. This is an interestin' development, I must say."

"Are we going to have a problem?"

"Not with me," he promised. "But I hear some others are petitionin' to have you booted out. They're just afraid of ya."

"And you're not?" Pogue said with a little surprise in his voice.

"Not unless you give me reason. Then I'll just simply kick yer arse."

Pogue snickered at that, looking to his roommate at last with approval. He liked this guy already.

"So who's the lady?" Gabriel said good-naturedly, pointing at the picture that Pogue was tacking to his bulletin board.

"That's my girl Kate," Pogue said proudly. "I'm going to marry her next summer."

"Congrats. Am I invited to the weddin'?"

Pogue laughed.

"Don't kick my ass, and we'll see."

Gabriel nodded in joking acquiescence.

-

Caleb licked his thumb for the tenth time that day, fishing through a book in the Harvard library. He had heard rumors that people around here had been going to the books to find out information on the 'legend' of the Ipswich boys. So far, Caleb hadn't found anything too revealing. For all anybody knew, they were just normal guys with undetermined powers.

Caleb sighed and looked up when he heard voices around him. A couple of girls were pointing at him and whispering to each other. At first, Caleb thought they were just checking him out, then he soon figured out otherwise when their faces turned to spite.

They only hissed among themselves all the more when Sarah came up to Caleb with a smile on her face. She too noticed the girls, and glared right back at them.

"Don't you have something better to do?" she snapped.

Offended, the girl's stalked off.

"You don't have to do that, you know," Caleb pointed out as Sarah put down her bag and sat down next to him. "Everywhere we go, people are going to hate the Covenant. And the more they understand us, the more they will hate us. You can't fight them _all_ off…"

Sarah held onto his arm encouragingly.

"I can try."

Sarah stared into her boyfriend's eyes, seeing something in them that she rarely saw. Sure, recently she had seen the despair, but this was the first time there was worry along with it.

"Caleb, is there something else bothering you?"

Caleb considered telling her the whole story, but for some reason, couldn't bring himself to. He wasn't ready to face that day again, that day when they saw how dangerous their powers could really be, that day when he had almost lost one of them, and he could only blame himself for it.

But she was his girlfriend, and he had confided everything else in her. Why couldn't he confess this? Were they growing apart?

Sarah placed her hand on his, deep concern in her eyes, as if his entire well-being was at stake.

No, they were not growing apart. They were just as in love as they had ever been, and every time Caleb looked into her eyes he was reminded of it.

"We were thirteen," Caleb said in a low voice. "We had just received our Power. We wanted to see all of what it could do. We were warned against it, but we ended up doing it anyway."

Sarah frowned, unsure of his meaning.

"What did you do?"

"We let loose something terrible. We thought we killed it that night, but now I'm not so sure… I've been having these dreams…"

Caleb ran his hands over his face in frustration.

"I don't know… do you think it's all just weird coincidence?"

"If there's one thing I've learned from the Covenant, Caleb," Sarah said, stroking his hand with a grin. "Is that with you guys, there _are_ no coincidences."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"What-- the truth?" she chuckled.

"Yeah, that. It means I'm going to have to take some necessary precautions. Like asking you to do me a favor."

"What?"

Caleb looked at Sarah directly, his face boldly serious.

"Stay far away from Reid."

-

**Oooh, witchy! Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue **


	7. Chapter 7: The Righting of Wrongs

**-**

**Chapter 7:**

**-**

Reid stepped out of the registration office to see that Elle was sitting outside waiting for her appointment to register as well. He smirked to himself, loving the sight of her again, feeling like he hadn't seen her in ages. She still had the same worried face, the same mahogany-colored hair, the same baby-blue eyes. She looked so beautiful even doing something as simple as sitting on a waiting bench, unknowing he was standing ahead of her and staring quite appraisingly.

But the thought of what had happened the other day made him sick to his stomach. Sure, he had thought those horrible things in his frustrated mind before, but never so harshly. And never would he even consider saying these evil thoughts to her. Now, somehow, he couldn't control it when it finally came out. He had become what he had always tried to protect her from. He had never regretting anything more in his life, if he had ever regretting anything at all.

When he had taken his fill of the view, he stepped up to her and announced his presence.

"Hey, lady," he said with a smooth smile. He showed her his college I.D. card, flashing it like a police badge. "Check it. I'm official."

She acted like she hadn't heard him. It hurt, but he tried again anyway.

"So are you going to transfer over here with me, or what?"

"I told you not to come near me again," she reminded him coldly.

Reid bent down to her level, but still she refused to look at him.

"But that's kind of hard for me, seeing as I like you so damn much."

"Then I'll make it easy for you," she retorted. "I'll go back to Connecticut tomorrow."

Reid sighed in frustration and took a seat next to her. She turned away from him immediately, so he leaned forward trying to catch her eye.

"I said I was sorry," he insisted. "Let me off the hook already."

"Sorry doesn't make right what happened. You said yourself that it was the real you, even if it was an eviler side."

Reid grabbed her chin to make her look at him.

"That _wasn't_ me, woman… _shit_… You need get that through your thick skull _right_ _now_. _This_ is the real Reid Garwin, and the real me demands you stay right here."

"Reid--"

"Nope!" he interrupted, shaking her face slightly for emphasis. "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. You deal with it."

She frowned, sighed heavily, and took a hold of the hand that was holding her chin. She paused for a moment, stroking his hand gently with hers, as if checking if he was real.

"I don't understand what's going on…" she admitted. "But I believe you because… I have to. Between having you back and evil and having you dead, I'll choose having you back any day."

"You and me both," he agreed. "But I think I can beat this. First, we have to figure out what it is that triggers my evil twin to come out and play. Caleb's all over that right now."

He smirked in amusement, as if recalling a funny memory.

"He's telling everyone I'm dangerous—can you imagine that?"

She put her hand on his face next, smiling shakily.

"I can't believe you're actually sitting here talking to me. I've missed you like crazy."

"Yeah, I know," he replied with another smug half-smile, then danced his fingers above her head like she was a marionette. "Jump through the hoops, my puppet, that's it, jump through…"

Elle frowned at his joke, giving him a look of warning.

"Watch it, Garwin… I'm not saying I'm not still pissed at you."

"Elle Bishop?" the lady behind the admissions desk called out.

Elle blushed with embarrassment for a moment, as Reid raised his eyebrows expectantly at this new development: she never was going to leave him, hell, she had even made an appointment with the registration office to enroll with him! He couldn't help but smirk arrogantly at her, knowing he had had been right. Elle just quickly kissed her man on the cheek and got up to answer the call.

"Shut up," she commanded him, and left.

"Reid!" Tyler called from outside the door, waving him over to him. Reid opened the door and stepped out of the office, fearing Tyler might have a heart attack if he wasn't answered soon.

"Are you all registered and everything?" Tyler said quickly, a wide smile breaking out on his face. Reid nodded, still confused. Tyler was acting like he was on fifty cans of Red Bull.

"Okay, you _have_ to come with me. You have no idea what fine specimen I quite literally _ran_ _into_ the other day, and who's currently meeting me at the dorm to return my shirt."

Reid raised an eyebrow.

"Your shirt?"

"Long story. I'll show her to you only if you promise _not_ to hit on her."

"What the hell are you talking about, Ty?" Reid huffed. "I'm already on the rocks with Elle; I'm not about to go make it worse. Besides, the last time you bragged about some hot chick she ended up looking like my mother. Which I still find creepy, by the way."

"Trust me," Tyler assured him with an even wider smile. "This is the real deal."

Tyler lead Reid across campus and back to the dorm halls, and as they climbed the stairway, Tyler started up again.

"Okay," he said, grabbing Reid to make sure he didn't walk any further. "You remember back in the beginning of Senior year, when we used to do the 'panty bets'?"

"Sure."

"And you remember the infamous 'commando' girl that Pogue won for?"

Reid smirked fondly.

"How could I forget?"

Tyler turned Reid around to guide him toward the sight.

"Yeah, well, her name is _Layla_."

Reid nearly fell over himself as he spotted the girl, the angel in tight clothing, the long legs, the skinny waist, the big boobs and, let's not forget, one especially fine ass. Choking on his own saliva, Reid hissed out:

"Holy _shit_!"

"_Yeah_…!" Tyler nodded in agreement. "See what I mean? In the middle of the night I woke up and remembered her from that day at '_Nicky's_'. Small world, huh?"

Reid took a moment to regain his composure, and slung an arm around Tyler's shoulders.

"For once, my good man," he said gratefully. "You are correct. I owe you one."

"You said you wouldn't hit on her!"

Reid shrugged and stalked off in the girl's direction.

"Yeah, well, I've never been known for my honesty."

"One word, Reid," Tyler called. "_Elle_."

Reid stopped in his tracks, very abruptly. Layla, who by now had noticed the two boys in the distance, watched in confusion.

Reid about-faced and angrily stormed off back the way he had come, growling at Tyler as he passed:

"_Must_ you be my conscience?"

"Well, seeing as you don't have one of your _own_…" Tyler shot back through a triumphant smile. "Consider us now even for the whole 'Elle' ordeal…"

"Hey, Tyler," Layla said when she finally walked up to him. She spotted Reid hurriedly stomping down the stairs. "Where's handsome off to in such a hurry?"

"Probably back to his girlfriend," Tyler answered hurriedly, hoping to discourage Layla's interest. "They're really serious, you know…"

"I see," she said with a nod, seeming disappointed. "What about your roommate? The tall one?"

"Taken too."

"And Gabe's roommate… Pogue?"

"He's married."

She nodded again, looking unsure if she believed him. After a moment, she put her suspicions aside and held out his shirt.

"I washed it for you," she explained. "But I'm sorry if it still might smell a little girly. I'm a compulsive lotioner."

The door to Tyler's room opened, and Caleb stepped out to find the two standing before the doorway.

"It's—I'm sure it's fine," Tyler stumbled over his words, suddenly nervous in front of his close friend. He wiggled his eyebrows at Tyler, as if Tyler wasn't embarrassed enough.

"Who's this?" Caleb asked in a taunting tone. He held his hand out for the lady politely. "Caleb Danvers."

She seemed surprised.

"_You're_ Caleb Danvers?" she looked him over from toes to hair. "What, is being ridiculously handsome part of the 'Power' deal for the four of you?"

Caleb seemed a little surprised at her flirting, and took a moment to gather his words. Tyler frowned, feeling that all too familiar feeling of jealousy creeping up on him. He quickly stepped up to the plate.

"Hey, Layla, Caleb and I were just going to go for some java, I mean, you can come if you like."

"Sure thing," she agreed with a nod.

"Uh," Caleb said, having seconds thoughts. He looked at Layla and her huge, hopeful brown eyes and reconsidered. "You kids go ahead. I just remembered I have somewhere to be."

"Aw, too bad," Layla fake pouted, and turned back to Tyler. "Guess it's just me and you!"

Tyler was beaming now, utterly grateful at his friend's decision to bail out.

"Guess so!" he agreed, and began to walk off with her, turning his head over his shoulder and mouthing a big '_thank_ _you_' to Caleb, followed by a wink and a good 'thumbs-up'.

Caleb smirked and shook his head at his friend, then turned around and left, walking down the hall in long strides.

In the darkness, Gabriel stepped out from around a corner, watching Caleb intently for a moment, as if making sure he was clear of him. He then looked back the way Tyler and Layla had gone, and glared suspiciously.

Then Gabriel quickly and silently padded down the stairway, with the full intention to follow them.

-

**Pic of Gabriel now up on my Cov gallery. Comments are most appreciated. Obviously, if you wish to see Layla, watch the bar scene in the movie again. Oh yes, and please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue **


	8. Chapter 8: The Eavesdrop

**-**

**Chapter 8:**

-

"So," Caleb said as he walked with Sarah across the outside campus grass. "Have you gotten settled okay?"

"I'm really glad that I decided to be adventurous this year and room with someone new," she said with a nod. "And it also gives Kate a chance to bond with Elle like I have."

"So do you like your new roomie?"

"Yeah," Sarah assured him with a nod. "She's really nice. Her name's Layla."

"Seems I've heard of her. Tyler, he's pretty taken with her."

"Really?" Sarah laughed. "Well, tell him I'll drop him a good line or two."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it," Caleb agreed. "He's been pretty insecure with his birthday coming up and all… and Ascending."

"That's right," Sarah nodded. "You seem concerned. Do you think he can handle it?"

"Let's hope so…" Caleb sighed his doubts. "Tyler's never been as strong as the rest of us. His willpower is weak. Especially since his mother got sick… it's really rattled him."

"What's wrong with her?"

"Something not even our almighty Power can fix," Caleb admitted sadly. "I mean, what good is having this Power if we can use it for a worthwhile cause? I wish I knew why it had to be this way. There are just so many pieces to us missing."

"What do you mean? Like what?"

"Not even our forefathers knew how our Power came to be, or why _we_ were chosen to carry it. There's always been a couple pages at the end of the Book of Damnation that have been missing for centuries. Something is on those pages that could be the key to all of our questions."

"But you don't know where those pages could be?"

Caleb smirked and shrugged.

"Not a clue."

**-**

Reid walked down the hall, holding a small strip of white paper in his hand, suitcase in the other, Elle walking silently by his side. He paid special attention to the door numbers, reading intently for one specific number. The one written on his paper.

"Ah, here we go," he announced, immediately seizing the door handle and letting it swing open. "Let's hope my new roomie isn't a total--"

He stopped talking when he laid his eyes on the other person already occupying the room. A short boy, with glasses and a mop of curly flaming red hair. A boy he immediately recognized.

"… _Geek_," Reid finished.

"Hi, Reid!" the redhead called out happily. "Wow! Fanshy sheeing you around here! Shmall world, huh?"

"Hi… _Robbie_," Reid grumbled, setting his suitcase down on the nearest bed. Elle was too busy giggling to speak up.

"Oh, gee whish!" Robbie went on in his lispy voice, spotting Reid's suitcase with excitement. "Are _you_ my new roommate? My goodnesh, how lucky am I?"

"Oh, God, what did I do to deserve this?" Reid cursed under his breath as he unzipped his luggage. "I come back from the dead and I'm _still_ in Hell. Just strike me down now, it will be less painful."

"We are going to have tremendoush fun, jusht wait!" Finally, he spotted Elle. "Oh my, I've forshaken my mannersh. Hi, I'm Robbie!"

He scanned her down and raised his eyebrows quite far up his forehead.

"Rrrowr…" he growled friskily. "My, aren't _we_ shexy?"

Elle just giggled some more at this, but Reid was upright and in Robbie's face faster than lightning, shoving the smaller boy backward.

"You'd best back off, dorkwad, before I decide your ugly face needs rearranging."

"Whoa! My shinsheerest apologiesh, compadre," Robbie quickly replied. "I didn't know."

"Now you do."

"Reid," Elle called out. "Be nice to your new roomie. I'm going to go find my room. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, whatever," Reid said without interest, going back to his suitcase.

-

"So I told him, sorry sir, but I don't accept those kind of tips."

Tyler laughed for the millionth time at Layla's jokes while he sipped his coffee, staring at the lovely girl across from him with great fondness. She smiled so lovely, it had him in a trance. He didn't know he could fall so hard, so fast… Still, he felt as if he didn't quite know her, which was true, technically. But she was so mysterious… she intrigued him. There was something about her, like there was more to her than meets the eye.

"_Hellooo_…" she said, waving her hand in front of his face. "Are you still alive?"

"Yeah, sorry," Tyler stammered, feeling his cheeks go red. "I'm just thinking."

"What about?" she said, sipping through the straw of her coffee smoothie. Somehow, Tyler really didn't want to admit was swooning over her.

"Uh-- about my birthday," he lied.

"Aww, when is it and how old?"

"Next Sunday and eighteen."

"We should celebrate," she said decidedly.

Tyler chuckled.

"It's a little early."

She leaned her elbows on the table and leaned closer to him, allowing him a clear view down her shirt. Tyler gulped, for he found his mouth had gone dry.

"You sure about that?" she asked.

Tyler couldn't remember how to make his voice work. Instead he shrugged like an idiot. Finally, he managed to spit out:

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, that depends…" she said, leaning even closer.

"On what?"

He could feel her breath now…

"How far you're willing to go…"

She brushed her mouth on his, before placing a soft kiss-- just a taste-- on his mouth.

Tyler was gone. He was lost to her now. Willingly so.

"Wow," he breathed to her.

"Up for some _real_ fun, Birthday Boy?" she asked.

Suddenly guilt overcame him in a wave, remembering that this girl wasn't free. It told him loads of her character to him as well, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to let himself fall for a cheating woman.

"What about Gabriel?" he managed to ask.

She doubled back in surprise, furrowing her brow. Tyler feared she was angry with him.

"What _about_ Gabriel?"

Tyler could have kicked himself for spoiling it, but he had to know for sure…

"I saw your picture on his desk. He's… your boyfriend, isn't he?"

She sat back down in her chair and folded her arms indignantly, suddenly unable to meet his eye.

"He had a picture of me in his _room_?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to hit a nerve--"

"--Oh, God, he's here."

"Who?" Tyler asked, getting frantic now. He followed her eyes to the door, where Gabriel stood, scanning the room with fury in his eyes.

"Oh… shit!" Tyler said, whipping his coffee mug to the side of his face in a pitiful effort at hiding behind it.

"Is he your boyfriend or not?" he hissed at Layla frantically as Gabriel began to make his way over. She panicked, looking to Gabriel in fear and keeping silent.

"Answer me!" Tyler insisted.

"NO!" she hissed back. "I dated him once, but… I can't get rid of him… he's like a stalker…!"

"_Layla_," Gabriel said sternly. "Can I have a word?"

"Gabriel, hi!" Layla straightened up with a smile, her nervousness suddenly vanishing as if it had never been there at all. "Sit down, have some java."

"_Now_."

"Hey!" Tyler said, standing up to Gabriel with annoyance. "I think you need to chill out--"

Gabriel glared at Tyler with threatening eyes.

"--I think _you_ need to stay out of this."

With that, Gabriel grabbed Layla's arm and pulled her out the door to outside. Tyler watched as they had a heated exchange with once another. Curious, he stepped closer, making sure to keep out of view. He let himself Use a bit to hear beyond the glass window. His advanced hearing kicked in after a moment or two, joining in on their conversation mid-sentence.

"--Out of my business!" Layla said in a harsh tone.

"Ya think I'm just gonna step aside and _leave_ all this?" Gabriel snapped. "Think again! It's what I came all the way here from Ireland fer, lady!"

"That's why you keep a pretty little picture of me on your desk, huh?" she accused. "So you know exactly who you're after!"

"How'd you know about that? Have you been in my room? Don't _ever_ go in my room!"

"I _know_ what you're up to. And don't you think for a _second_ that I'm going to let you get away with it. Not _these_ boys."

"You can't stop me," Gabriel said with satisfaction in his voice. "You'll see…"

Suddenly, all went silent. Tyler looked around the corner slightly to see what was wrong. Gabriel was dripping with sweat and panting heavily, almost like he was melting in blazing summer heat, and looking around, as if searching for someone.

"Another time perhaps," he mumbled, his voice low and tired. "And mark my words: we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other, I assure you."

"Can't wait."

Tyler let his eyes drift back to their proper blue color, as Layla stormed off. He stood in a trance of deep thought on all that he had just seen and heard. His first thought: he'd better tell Caleb as soon as humanly possible.

Tyler looked back to Gabriel, who was still looking around for someone, like he felt Tyler's eyes on him. When he didn't see anyone, he then flipped up the collar of his long jacket as if to fight the biting cold, and turned and walked off in a hurry.

Tyler stroked his chin in thought. Maybe he had better warn _Pogue_ first… After all, this wierdo was his roommate...

Suddenly Tyler felt eyes on him too. He looked up, and saw all the coffee-drinking costumers surrounding him staring with blank expressions. He quickly realized they all had ust watched him Use. When he met their gazes, they began to whisper to one another and point.

"_He's the one I told you about_…"

"_I thought it was all a hoax!_"

"_Oh, God, did you see those eyes?_"

Tyler forced a smile through his embarrassment, and scooted his way toward the door. Once outside, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

-

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue **


	9. Chapter 9: The Forest Meeting

**-**

**Chapter 9:**

-

Pogue sat in the dark, staring out the window in deep thought. He was glad for the time to himself, away from the other boys and away from his roommate. If only they knew what he _really_ did with his spare time…

"Sorry I kept you waiting…" a female voice from the doorway said.

A devious grin crept up on Pogue's face, and he turned around anxiously to face the girl. Gabriel was gone for the day, so he planned on using the unusual free moments to their fullest extent. He got up to greet the woman, his heart racing as he took off his shirt. The girl pounced on him, attacking his lips with full force, as if she had been waiting for this moment forever. For some reason, this being so secretive and deceptive made it all the more enjoyable.

"How much time do we have?" she asked him breathlessly.

"Not enough…" he admitted, checking his watch as he held her. "Why'd you risk coming to my room?"

"Because I like to live dangerously-- you know that…"

Pogue smiled behind his kiss.

"Is that a fact?" he chuckled. "I can't say I'm much of a gambler. You'd better get out of here before my fiancée catches us…"

She giggled mischievously, but gasped as someone turned on the light.

Tyler blushed at his intrusion, and appeared very awkward at the sight before him.

"Hi, Pogue," he stumbled. "Hi, Kate. Sorry to interrupt, but its kind of an emergency."

Kate groaned as Pogue grabbed his shirt and jacket, herding Tyler out the door.

"This had _better_ be good…" Pogue hissed to his Covenant brother.

-

Caleb sat on his small armchair, his feet out on a footstool in his broad dorm room. His schoolbooks were in a mass array all around him, the most imperative sitting on his lap. Studying was not a thing that came natural to him, so usually he would be stuck trying to memorize dates and names for ages.

Suddenly, the sky outside darkened, like gray clouds had swooped in like a canopy. Caleb closed his book and looked up to the window with confusion. He got up very slowly, but paused when he heard it…

That growl. That one that had always haunted his dreams. There was no doubt about it. Caleb's heart stopped as he began to see a shadow appear outside, even though his room was on the second floor of the building. A hand drifted into view, one with claws as long as daggers, with ugly red and black skin… charred and sizzling…

Caleb's eyes grew wide as he watched the creature's shadow come more and more into view. He could surely make out those ram horns by now…

With a loud noise, Tyler and Pogue then burst into the room, flustered and panting for loss of breath.

Another glance at the window, and the creature was nowhere to be seen. Not even a gray cloud in the sky. Caleb looked back to his friends, who now were giving him funny looks.

"Are you okay, man?" Pogue said. "You look a little pale."

"I thought I…" Caleb paused, suspected he might sound crazy in front of his friends, who were already concerned for his mental health. "Never-mind. What's up with you?"

"Tyler has something he needs to tell us. All of us. It's a 'under the house' and 'around the circle' kind of thing. Since we are otherwise unable to go _to_ said meeting place, we thought the forest would be the next best bet."

"Tonight," Caleb agreed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "We'll go together."

-

Reid grumbled as they got out of Tyler's Hummer, slamming the door closed indignantly.

"I still don't understand _why_ you had to drag me away from my imperative study session, just to talk about Baby Boy's problems."

"Reid, don't even," Pogue countered as he walked around to the other side of the car. "When I found you, you were snoring and halfway naked with a redhead in your bed. Now, unless you were studying _anatomy_…."

Tyler whipped his head around in shock.

"Dude, you spooned with _Robbie_?"

Reid promptly smacked him on the back of his head.

"_Elle_, idiot," he countered with impatience. "You're going to have to accept it someday."

Tyler said nothing in reply to the comment, but simply began walking across the open field, toward the forest.

Pogue, Caleb and Tyler were ten paces gone, when they realized that Reid was not among them.

Caleb looked back at the Humvee, and Reid was in the same spot he was when they had left.

"Hey!" Tyler called. "Let's go!"

Reid frowned at the road ahead of him and didn't move.

"What's the matter?" Caleb called with confusion obvious in his tone. "Com'on!"

"You didn't tell me we were going in the forest," Reid stated very blatantly.

Caleb turned and looked at the forest, then back at Reid again.

"What's wrong with the forest?"

"Still afraid of the boogeyman, Reid?" Tyler taunted. "It's long gone by now. Besides, this isn't even the same _forest_."

"I'm not afraid," Reid insisted. "I just refuse to go in there."

"He's afraid," Pogue decided.

"Really afraid," Tyler agreed.

"Guys, com'on, give him some slack," Caleb commanded them, and trotted over to Reid. He spoke low, as to make sure the other's wouldn't hear.

"Reid," Caleb said very seriously. "Just ignore them— they don't know what we do. They didn't see what we saw. So, you don't have to go in there if you don't want to. I understand."

Reid looked at him with a glare, and didn't say a word for several moments.

"Do you know why I'm alive?" Reid asked him. Caleb seemed confused at the abruptness of the question.

"No," he answered truthfully.

"Neither do I," Reid admitted. "But I think it has something to do with that forest right there. Or, something _in_ that forest."

Reid looked elsewhere, and was silent once more.

"Reid," Caleb said sternly. "That thing we saw when we were kids… You saw it again, didn't you?"

"Caleb…" Reid said with actual fear in his voice. "I don't think we killed it."

"To be honest with you," Caleb said with a sigh. "I never thought we did."

Reid gave Caleb a strange look, just as they heard Tyler's impatient voice call from ahead of them:

"Are you guys coming, or what?"

"Keep your shirt on, Ty!" Reid called back. "We're coming."

It was Caleb's turn to give Reid a strange look, only his held more surprise. Even still, he didn't argue with Reid, and plodded along behind him agreeably. The Covenant had a lot to talk about tonight.

-

"And then he threatened Layla," Tyler finished retelling the story of what he had overheard at the café, as the four sat around a small campfire that they had easily made by Using. Caleb poked at the flames with a stick thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his other hand.

"I don't get it," Pogue said his thoughts aloud. "Why would they both be so interested in _us_?"

"My dad used to tell me stories," Caleb spoke up. "To scare me out of Using too much. He used to say that every time I Used, someone out there could feel it, and if I Used too much, I would only be helping them find us."

"That's not too far from the truth," Tyler piped in. "I remember reading something in the 'Chronicles' back in Ipswich… Reid, I showed it to you, remember?"

"Yeah," Reid agreed, nodding as he recalled it as well. "Said something about witch hunters still being alive _today_. I had always figured Ty was just trying to scare _me_ out of Using."

Caleb sighed.

"Looks like we should have listened."

They sat in silence for several moments, until just then, all the boys jerked forward as if abruptly halted in a moving vehicle, only none of them had moved a muscle. A wave of energy floated before them, then fell upon the fire and immediately extinguished it.

"What the hell was _that_?" Reid was the first to ask. Once they had all regained their composure, he went on to say: "Alright, who _Used_?"

Reid looked to Tyler, who shook his head in innocence. Tyler looked to Pogue, who shrugged with confusion. Pogue looked to Caleb, who seemed disturbed that no one was confessing. Someone had definitely Used, there was no denying that. It was a very recognizable force of energy.

"Seriously," Caleb reinstated with irritation. "Who did it?"

"Caleb," Pogue said, his puzzled expression reflected on the faces of Reid and Tyler. "No one did…"

Everyone looked to one another with bewilderment, trying to find the liar.

"But that had to be someone," Tyler insisted. "If not us, than who?"

Caleb hated to be the one to say it, but he knew someone had to.

"Who's the only other person we know with the Power?" he asked.

Reid sighed in anger, as Tyler frowned, and Pogue shook his head and looked elsewhere.

"Chase Collins," Caleb said ominously for rest of them. "Looks like we're going to have to pay him a visit at F.B.I. headquarters after classes tomorrow."

"This should be fun," Tyler muttered.

"Not really," Reid grumbled with obvious contempt.

-

**Actually, it _will_ be fun. Hehe. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue **


	10. Chapter 10: The Asylum

**-**

**Chapter 10:**

-

Caleb led the others up the steps of the headquarters of the F.B.I., their old enemies, now seemed to be the only regular people in the world who seemed to be looking out for the Covenant brothers. After the events of their last big battle with Chase, the F.B.I. and the rest of the government took them under their wings, and hushed the media from ever speaking of them again. For all the public knew, the Covenant all had simply disappeared. Perhaps a hoax, or something that was done away with quickly, for all anyone could assume.

After the battle at the auditorium, Chase had been stripped of his power and tossed into a high security cell in a federal asylum, right next to the cannibalistic wild-man they had found in Africa and a man they believed to have been abducted by aliens.

Chase told his name to the guards, and a blonde woman came up to the gate to let him right in.

"Hey Caroline," Caleb said to his old interrogator, the first of the government to give them protection.

"Come on in," she said, waving them through the barred gate. "We've kept him here since that night. He put up quite a fuss at first, but I think since he had to quit what you call 'Using' on such an abrupt basis, he kind of blew a microchip. You'll find he's quite different than the Chase Collins you remember."

Caleb furrowed his brow in alarm, but remained otherwise emotionless, trying to prepare himself. How bad could he be? He was Chase. He was already psycho. Caleb shrugged it off, and entered through that gate thinking he was ready for anything.

He was wrong.

Nothing could have prepared him for this. First that horrid walk, down what Tyler called 'Freak Show Row'. Little square windows provided sweeping views of various people and occasionally creatures, all seemingly dangerous on many different levels.

"It's like some bizarre episode of the 'X-Files'…" Pogue whispered to Caleb.

"I was thinking the 'Outer Limits' or the 'Twilight Zone'," Caleb replied agreeably, some nervousness shaking his voice. "But you know… whatever works."

Caroline stopped at a cell near the end of the row.

"This is it," she announced, with a bit of sadness in her voice. "I'm only going to open the window for you to talk. It's policy."

She slid open the plastic glass to reveal the barred window, and beyond the small view was simply empty darkness. A dim light shined in the room, but its glow didn't show any sign of Chase.

"Chase," Caroline called into the room. "I have someone here to see you."

"Ooh," a low, husky voice called from a dark corner. "A visitor… for _me_? Whoooo… _is_ it?"

Caleb took a moment to shake off his confusion and shock at the obvious lunacy reflected in Chase's tone, then took a deep breath to speak to his old enemy.

"It's Caleb," he replied boldly, trying to peer through the darkness for any glimmer that Chase was there.

"Oh, I know…" Chase's voice hissed back. "I knew you'd be coming back soon…"

His voice was eerie, as if he was speaking in song. It had a creepy sort of light-heartedness in its undertones, and it made the hairs on the back of Caleb's neck stand on end. Chase really _had_ gone mad with withdrawals.

"How did you know I'd come back?" Caleb asked.

"Because…" Chase replied. "You felt it… Felt it big… I felt it too…"

"Felt what?" Caleb leaned in closer. He heard some shuffling around, then saw a hand come out into the light, placed firmly on the floor to pull the rest of himself into the spotlight.

"You felt the Power!" Chase said in almost a yell.

Caleb pulled away from the small window, mostly in surprise. He looked at Pogue, who only shrugged in bewildered reply.

"How'd you do it?" Caleb demanded, getting intolerant of Chase's foolishness. "How'd you Use without the Power?"

"Haha!" Chase said, coming up closer to the window. "It's like I thought…"

"What?" Caleb urged. "What's like you thought?"

Chase grabbed the bars in the window, and pressed his face against them, so Caleb had to pull back again. Chase's eyes had his familiar madness flowing in them, only with a little more raw insanity rather than his usual calculating craziness.

"It's just like I thought," Chase said again, only this time back in his lower, hissing voice. "You think it was _me_ who Used…"

Caleb frowned in even more surprise.

"It _wasn't_ you?" Caleb asked.

"_You_ of all people should know," Chase said. "After all… it was _you_ who took it away."

"But…" Caleb tried to comprehend his words. "If it wasn't _you_…"

"How can that be?" Pogue chimed in. "The Covenant…"

"Oooh," Chase teased. "The plot thickens… now, doesn't it? If I didn't Use, and _you_ didn't Use… whoever can it be?"

"Do you know who it is?" Tyler asked.

"Your guardian angel," Chase replied. "Watching over the precious Covenant… but the devil's coming… You'll get your dues soon."

Caleb exchanged glances with the other Covenant members, then inclined his ear to listen.

"What do you mean?"

"I _mean_…" Chase said impatiently. "That little monster in the woods… it's going to eat you all… Chomp! Off with the Garwin line… Chomp! There's goes the Sims'…"

Caleb looked to Reid, who looked pale, and more than a little angry.

"How'd you know about that?" Caleb interrogated.

"Oh, here and there…" Chase waved it off.

"What is that thing?" Caleb demanded more of Chase. "Tell me!"

"WhoooOOOooo!" Chase made a sound like a ghost. "It's the _Waaar_lock…"

"What warlock?" Caleb growled. "Answer me!"

"Caleb," Pogue put a hand on his leader's shoulder. "He's whacked. We're not going to get any straight answers out of him. We'd better go."

"Yes, don't listen to me…" Chase laughed again. "I'm not crazy—I'm just a little mad!"

Caleb shook his head in pity for the boy, and couldn't help wondering if that would be his own future someday. The Power was indeed a strange and hazardous thing.

As Caleb began to walk away, he could still hear Chase's cackles.

"Do tell Sarah 'hello' for me, will you?" he called after Caleb. "Good seeing you, brother! Always nice to talk to one of my own!"

"He's completely _lost_ it," Pogue muttered, shaking his head in awe, as they headed back for the exit. Tyler stole one more glance at Chase before following.

"Oh, and Sims…" Chase called silently to his back. Tyler peered over his shoulder to give his attention to Chase.

"You have a nice birthday."

Tyler furrowed his brow, wondering how Chase knew his birthday was coming up, but let it go. He probably had researched the Covenant's file like the Covenant had researched Chase's. So he _hoped_, at least…

-

Once outside among normal people again, Caleb let out a sigh of relief. He hoped he would never have to be going back there again.

Caroline led them back to the lobby in wide steps.

"Did you get what you came for?" she asked as they walked. Caleb sighed again.

"Not really," he confessed. "Just more questions."

"Come with me," Caroline said. "I know someone who might be able to help."

Down a few more halls and through some more rooms, Caroline led them to a door, where a man and a woman worked inside with various documents and notes all around.

"She's been dying to meet you four," Caroline explained as they watched the young woman through the window of the door. "She's one of my best researchers in the department opened for you. She's made a study of all of your history books, and some that you might not even be aware of. So far, she's only been able to make a physical study of Chase, and what's left over of what we forced out of Tyler last year."

Tyler shuddered at the memory, but was glad no one seemed to notice. That was definitely _not_ one of the highlights of his life-- becoming a lab rat to some over-zealous researchers. And he had almost moved on from it too…

Caroline then opened the door for them and allowed them to enter. The dark-haired woman looked up through her silver glasses, and seemed to recognize them immediately.

"At last," she said as if trying to hold back her excitement. "Danvers, Parry, Garwin and, of course, Sims…"

She shook each of their hands in turn, a wide, friendly smile on her face.

"Scarlett Blair. I've been most anxious to meet you."

She seemed younger than she looked, perhaps even just a year or two older than them, which surprised Caleb. How would she get such a high-end job so young? She must've known someone in the business…

Caleb noticed Reid was already checking her out. She had a nice figure, long stringy black hair and very red lips. She almost reminded Caleb of those vampiresses from the old movies. She acted about as friendly as one too. Reid didn't seem to mind.

"Hiya," Reid said as he helped himself to her handshake. "'Blair', huh? Like the 'Blair Witch'? Kinda ironic, wouldn't ya say?"

"Scarlett," she countered firmly. "As in 'Gone With the Wind'. One can't choose their last name. Which is why I gather you find yourself in this messy fortune of hereditarianism, yes?"

"What can you tell us that we might not already know?" Caleb asked impatiently.

"Something very interesting indeed," she said calmly, pushing her glasses further up her nose. "But it will cost you. I help you, you help me."

Caleb quirked an eyebrow.

"How?"

She nodded at Tyler.

"I want to do a check-up on Sims— just a _routine_ one…"

"No way!" Tyler burst out. "I am _not_ going through a lab again."

"It's just a check-up!" she insisted. "Stop whining."

"Ty?" Caleb asked Tyler's permission before agreeing to her terms. Tyler sighed and nodded.

"Fine."

"Okay, so what's the big news?" Pogue pressed.

Scarlett nodded and left to her desk. She sorted through papers half-heartedly, as if searching for something while knowing exactly where it was.

"Collins told me about that Power he felt last night. I thought he was making it up, but then you four arrived, and I knew it had to be true."

"Get to the part we _don't_ know," Caleb urged.

"There's a book we found in a church crypt in southern England." She picked up a few papers. "These are photocopies of the juiciest parts."

She was getting more excited by the minute, Caleb to tell. She was just bursting to tell them whatever this new development was. It made him a little nervous.

"So?"

"Boys," she said boldly. "Did you _know_ you weren't the only ones out there that have the Power?"

-

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue **


	11. Chapter 11: The List

**Chapter 11:**

-

Caleb looked to Pogue, while Tyler inhaled abruptly and Reid frowned in distress at the news they had just heard. It didn't quite register, and it didn't quite fit. Maybe they didn't really want to understand, even though her words were simple enough for a child.

There were others out there with the Power?

The more Caleb thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. Why would _they_ be so special to be the only five families in the entire existence of the world that bore the burden of this Power? He should have figured there were others… All the bloodlines before him should have.

"So this book," Tyler said. "Does it say who?"

"Apparently there are many known bloodlines that originated in the United Kingdom, where this book was found," Scarlett replied.

"Makes sense," Caleb observed. "That's where our descendants came from."

"It says that your little 'Covenant of Silence' wasn't formed to protect themselves from that Salem Witch hunt, but from the others with the Power. Here's a list of last names that were found in the book in England," Scarlett said, handing them a photocopied slip of paper. The list was shorter than Caleb anticipated, only bearing about ten or so names. "Do any of them mean anything to you?"

"Not yet," Caleb said with narrowed eyes, glaring at the piece of paper in deep concentration. After a quick glance-over, he passed it along to the others, and gratefully shook Scarlett's hand.

"Thanks for your help," Caleb said. "Don't hurt Tyler. We need him to continue the bloodline."

"Yeah," Pogue agreed. "After that, you can kill him if you want."

Caleb made to leave, but Tyler grabbed his arm, worry obvious in his wide eyes.

"You guys are just going to _leave_ me here?" he spat out desperately.

"I don't see why we have to stay," Caleb replied with a smile slowly appearing. "You're a big boy— you can handle it."

"Sure," Reid piped in, patting Tyler encouragingly on the shoulder. "Their just doctors. With _scalpels_…"

"You guys suck," Tyler pouted.

"Come along," Scarlett prompted Tyler, grabbing a clipboard on her desk and heading for the next room. "It'll all be over soon."

"Let's get going guys," Caleb said to the others. "We have some research to do."

-

"How do you expect to find these guys?" Reid asked as he followed Caleb through the hardwood halls back to the dorms. "Ask every person alive: 'Excuse me, but you don't happen to have a dose of our addictive, life-sucking superpowers, do you'?"

"Of course not," Caleb replied. "We don't need to."

"What do you mean?" Pogue asked.

Caleb stopped at Pogue's dorm room, and pointed to the door.

"Because we already _have_ a suspect."

"Dude," Reid snickered. "We already _know_ Pogue has the Power."

"Not me," Pogue nodded, getting on the same page as Caleb. "My roommate."

Pogue stepped forward with his room key and slowly creaked open the door, peeking inside like a spy to his own room.

"It's clear," Pogue stated. "He's not in. He's probably at that big party at the frat house."

"Speaking of which," Reid said. "I told Elle I'd be there…" He glanced at his watch. "A half-hour ago. Gotta bail, fellahs."

"Alright, see ya," Pogue waved him off.

"Tell Sarah I'll be along soon, will ya?" Caleb called after Reid. Then Pogue opened the door to his room fully, and he and Caleb stepped inside the room that suddenly seemed so very uninviting.

"Spread out," Caleb told him. "See what you can find. Especially something with a last name."

He grabbed Pogue's shoulder before he could move.

"And make sure you put _every_thing back where you found it."

-

Tyler sat nervously on a cold leather waiting bed, the paper liner crinkling every time he moved a muscle. His shirt was off, and Scarlett was currently checking his blood pressure and making notes on her clipboard. She had been doing various painless things like that for the last half hour. Tyler wished he could relax, but he would never feel the same way in doctor's offices ever again.

She pulled out her stethoscope and put the cold metal on his bare back.

"I thought one of you should know," she spoke up for the first time since they had entered the room. "We analyzed the black substance that you produce inside your bodies. Breathe in, please."

Tyler obeyed.

"Really?" he said with interest, sitting up higher in response to the abrupt cold of the stethoscope moving to a new spot on his back. "What is it?"

"There are strong doses of serotonin, tryptophan, and even nicotine, along with several strange unidentified substances that we couldn't name, but contained enough addictive stimulants to keep the entire continent hooked for years. I must admit it aroused a level of pity for you all. Breathe in."

Again, Tyler did so.

"It's a curse and a blessing," Tyler said agreeably, looking at the floor. "I wish your little books could tell us why it had to be that way."

"There's a multitude of folklore," she said as she wiped a spot on his arm in preparation for a small shot. "But it's all mostly speculation from religious leaders. Some say you are demons in human form, others, cursed fallen angels."

"What do _you_ say?" Tyler said, wincing as she stuck the needle in. She was gentle, and thankfully it was over quickly.

"I say there's more to you than meets the eye, definitely," she replied simply.

-

The dorm room had turned into a hurricane. Caleb was gently searching through Gabriel's desk and going through the files on Gabriel's computer, and Pogue was searching through everything else Gabriel owned.

"Anything?" Pogue asked him hopefully.

"Nothing," Caleb admitted. "It's as if the dude doesn't _want_ to exist in the known world."

"Hey, check this out," Pogue said, pulling out a piece of paper from one of Gabriel's coats. Caleb could see that it was a list of some sort.

"Danvers and Sims," Pogue read. "Room 323. Garwin: room 318. Parry: room 309…"

"So he _is_ hunting us…" Caleb said decidedly.

"Wait, there's more," Pogue said, putting a hand up to stop him. "Montoya: room 412."

"Who's the hell's Montoya?" Caleb said what they both were thinking.

The two thought in silence for a moment. Caleb looked around the room for inspiration, and found it. Upon Gabriel's desk, was a framed photo of Layla. Upon the bottom left-hand corner was a crudely drawn heart and the initials: 'L.M.'

"Layla Montoya," he said aloud. "She has to be one of us. That's why Gabriel's after her too."

"But that's impossible," Pogue shook his head. "You know that girls can't have the Power. Even if there were twins, or someone willed it to her, it would disintegrate in her body… that's what the book says. The book's never wrong, Caleb."

"Yeah," Caleb agreed halfheartedly. "The book's never wrong…"

-

Reid danced to the pulsating trance music, pressing himself up to Elle's back as she swayed to the harsh beats. She was smiling from ear-to-ear, loving every minute near to him.

"Is this real?" she called out over the music. Reid leaned in closer, putting his chin over her shoulder.

"What?"

"I said: is this real? You… alive again… here with me… actually _dancing_, no less. You never dance."

"Sure, I dance," Reid countered. "It all depends on who I'm dancing _with_…"

Elle smiled at that.

"I'm going to get hooked up with a clean drink," Reid said to her. "Stay out here, look pretty. I'll be right back."

She nodded, and Reid weaved his way through the crowd toward the refreshment table, or what was left of it. Chips and disposable plates and cups were everywhere. A little digging and you could get to the ice bucket, where a few root beer bottles were stashed.

"Hey, grab one for me?" a woman's voice said into his ear.

He knew who is was, and he didn't even have to see her face. It was Layla. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew. He could almost… smell her.

Reid frowned at the strange feeling in his stomach; a feeling he didn't recognize. It gurgled inside of him, and even pained him, like his stomach acids were boiling.

He remained calm and acted cool. He quickly shoved another root beer toward Layla. She looked especially gorgeous tonight, in a tight black leather skirt and black laced top. Reid furrowed his brow and concentrated on not staring at her broad chest.

"I know what you are," Layla said naturally, as she sipped her bottle. Reid looked up at her, trying to keep a straight face through the odd sensations inside his abdomen.

"I know that everybody knows what you are," she went on. "You're the famous 'warlock' now, right?"

She stepped closer to him. Had he not been in so much pain, he would have moved back from her close proximity. Then he realized, even if he wanted to move, he couldn't, for his legs had suddenly gone numb.

"I also know that you've been holding back from hitting on me because of your little friend Tyler. But I _further_ know that _you_ were the one that saw me first… that night at Nicky's Bar…"

Reid's eyes grew wide as she leaned in. Reid glanced over to where he had left Elle, who was still dancing to her heart's content. Thankfully, her eyes were closed so she didn't see him.

Layla noticed he was staring at Elle, and grabbed his chin to face her again.

"So why don't you ditch the redhead…" Layla called out through the music. "And let me show you a good time… Something tells me you've been dying for one. You've been playing the good boy for too long, Reid."

Her hand slipped under his shirt and around his back, and began to move around. Reid slowly began to realize that she was feeling for something. He could feel it too, as her hands stroked down his back. He had scars back there. Scars he didn't remember getting.

"I knew it," she said through her teeth excitedly. "You're the one…"

She looked up into his eyes.

"What do you say, Reid?" Layla said through a mischievous smile, pressing her chest against his. "Let's make you _bad_ again…"

A simple stroke to the back of his neck, and Reid's eyes suddenly fell black. He didn't even realize they had, until people around began to stare and point. Elle was staring now too— and she didn't look pleased. Reid sensed what was coming next, but by then, it was too late.

-

**Dun dun dun! Haha… Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue **


	12. Chapter 12: The Markings

**Chapter 12:**

-

Pogue and Caleb were just putting the last of Gabriel's things away when they heard something they couldn't quite identify. They looked to one another in confusion, each hoping the other had the answer they were searching for.

"What is that?" Pogue said, inclining his ear to listen.

"The bass from the music downstairs," Caleb realized. "It's stopped…"

Suddenly, a large boom from the floor below quaked the very building on its foundation. Pogue clutched the dresser to keep himself from falling in surprise. Some of the contents upon the furniture fell to the floor.

"What the hell?" Caleb muttered in confusion, spreading his arms out to keep his balance.

"An bomb?" Pogue guessed to Caleb.

"Or worse…" Caleb said with worry.

-

"Ha, ha, HA!" Reid yelled as college students ran from the large room in swarms while they still could. Tables, chairs, and trash of all kinds swirled around him in a tornado, being launched from him with every wave of his hand. Strong winds came from nowhere, and red smoke thickened the air and hindered eyesight.

Fire was pulsating through Reid's eyes, a fire that only came with the strongest of Using. Blackened veins spread like winter branches from around his eyes, dark as night to match their color. Jet-black liquid trailed out of his mouth, making his lips, teeth, and chin a disgusting display.

"REID!" Elle called in fear, holding onto a doorknob for dear life. "STOP!"

"Oh, my dear," Reid growled through an evil smile. "Don't you _dare_ think I've forgotten _you_…"

Two fingers from his right hand lifted her into the air, paralyzing all bodily movement from her.

"NO!" she protested as she drifted towards him. She turned her head in disgust at his ghastly appearance.

"Just one kiss, darling…"

"Let her go, Reid!" Sarah called from another doorway. She quickly turned to Kate.

"Quick, Kate, go get Pogue and Caleb."

"On it," she agreed and ran off.

Sarah bravely fought her way through the harsh winds and managed to reach up and grab a hold of Elle's ankles, trying to hold her back from Reid.

Gabriel looked in the doorway Sarah had just come from, and surveyed the situation carefully as Sarah snatched a vase flying through the air and hurled it towards Reid. Reid blocked it with ease.

"That's not nice at all…" Reid scolded her. "You try to spoil my fun, I shall spoil yours."

"Reid, no!" Elle cried as Reid waved his other hand and Sarah blew away in a puff of smoke. Gabriel's eyes grew wide at what he saw, and even angry…

"Try not to be so selfish, my dear Elle," Reid chuckled. "Your turn is coming…"

Reid lifted himself up to Elle's level as she entered the heart of the tornado with him.

"Just one kiss…" Reid said as she drew near. "Like we always do…"

"Don't, Reid," Elle begged, tears flowing from her frightened eyes when she looked upon his repulsive-looking face once more. She was close enough to inhale whatever that horrible black substance was. It smelled like tar and sewage.

"You might as well not fight it," Reid said as he leaned in. "Now I will simply take what I am due…"

Gabriel frowned in alarm at these words, confusion in his eyes. Still, he powered through his bewilderment and stepped forward.

"Stop," he commanded Reid calmly.

Reid peered through the haze at the darkened silhouette, trying to identify him.

"And who's going to make--?"

But before he could finish his sentence, he was thrown backward, crashing straight through the sliding glass door behind him. Elle dropped to the floor, as did all other items flying through the air. Gabriel rushed to the window to check on Reid. The blonde was unconscious on the grass, lying on a bed of broken glass. Gabriel stepped through the now open hole where the glass door once was, and grabbed a hold of Reid.

Caleb and Pogue rushed through the door to the large party room, Kate at their heels. Kate immediately ran to Elle's side, helping her back on her feet.

"What happened?" Caleb asked her gently but desperately.

"Reid…" Elle choked, and looked out the window at Gabriel, standing over the boy in question. Caleb followed her line of sight, and spotted the pair as well.

"Get away from him!" Caleb yelled, charging at Gabriel with anger.

"No, Caleb!" Elle grabbed a hold of Caleb's arm. "He saved me."

"Against a bezerk Reid?" Kate spat in surprise. "How?"

Elle held her forehead in confusion.

"I don't know…"

"She's fallen on her head," Pogue observed a red mark near Elle's temple. "She could've been seeing things."

Caleb looked back to Gabriel, who was violently shoving Reid over and ripping the back of his shirt in half.

"Hey!" Caleb yelled to him. "I said get _away_ from him!"

Caleb stopped his shouts when he spotted what Gabriel had been looking for. Across Reid's back were scars like he had never seen before. Long scarred lines, and lots of them.

Caleb stepped through the glass door as well, now very silent.

"They're whippin's," Gabriel explained. "They're the same of John Putnam's."

Caleb jerked his head up to Gabriel in shock. Gabriel went on before Caleb could recover.

"Yer friend has been marked by the ghost of Wood's Hole. I wasn't sure if it was related to Putnam. Now I know."

Caleb shook his head, trying to comprehend was Gabriel was saying, as Pogue came out with a matching look of bewilderment across his own face.

"Who _are_ you?" Caleb demanded.

Gabriel bent over Reid to survey him some more.

"Yer guardian angel," he replied over his shoulder. He brushed away some of Reid's blonde hair away from the back of his neck.

"This here," Gabriel stated in a soft, pensive tone.

Caleb stepped forward to see what Gabriel was talking about. It looked like just another scar, only it seemed much more fresh. It was a straight line following the trail of Reid's spine.

"This is the trigger that makes him shift," Gabriel said decidedly, and grit his teeth. "Dammit. She knows it too."

"You mean Layla," Caleb guessed. "Want do you want with her? And where's Sarah?"

"Would ya stop askin' the questions fer one _minute_?" Gabriel snapped. "I'm tryin' to think here."

"Elle said you saved her," Caleb interrogated. "How?"

"You can question me all ye like later. Just… I beg of ya… shut _up_."

They were quiet in obedience, still utterly in the dark of the entire situation. They weren't even sure Gabriel was on their side. But his mind's wheels seemed to be turning, so they let him be, hoping to get the answers they needed.

Elle stepped forward and bent over Reid too. She looked at Gabriel. Gabriel looked back at her.

"Thank you," she said in all sincerity. He nodded in a serious 'you're welcome'.

Elle gazed upon Reid, lying face down in the grass, and reached to turn him back over.

"No, no," Gabriel said, grabbing her hand and gently pulling it away. "Don't do that, lovely. Don't touch him ever again. You don't want whatever's in him to get into you too."

"I knew there was something wrong," Elle said, sighing in relief. "I just knew it."

"Where's Sarah?" Caleb demanded of Gabriel.

"Your Garwin friend here," Gabriel replied drearily. "He Rescinded her."

"What?" Caleb furrowed his brow in distress. "Where?"

"I'd be tellin' you if I knew."

Right on cue, Reid stirred and groaned, turning himself over and propping himself up on his elbows. He squinted his eyes to focus on his surroundings, and gazed upon Elle first, and then Gabriel. Caleb rushed forward and grabbed Reid by the scruff.

"What did you do with Sarah?"

"What? What'd I miss?" Reid asked groggily.

"What did you _do_ with her?" Caleb repeated with desperation shaking his voice. "Answer me, Reid!"

Suddenly Reid's eyes went wide as he remembered the events before he had blacked out.

"Ohshit," he breathed.

"Yes," Gabriel enthusiastically agreed. "Very _deep_ shit."

"WHERE?" Caleb shouted, shaking Reid furiously.

"I don't know!" Reid replied with confusion. "I blanked out, I swear!"

Gabriel stood up and began to walk off, tied up in his own thoughts.

"Wait!" Caleb said irritatedly, dropping Reid back on the ground and chasing after Gabriel. "I'm still waiting for some answers! Who are you _really_ and how do you know all this?"

Gabriel sighed.

"Ya want answers?" he asked.

Caleb stayed silent, but folded his arms impatiently.

"So do I," Gabriel obliged. "All of ya… follow me."

-

**Hey guys—sorry this update is kinda short. It's necessary, so that I can fully delve into Gabriel's 'answers' in the next chap. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue  
PS. Be sure to check out my new Cov story: '_The Salem Witch War_". It's going to be a doozy.**


	13. Chapter 13: The Revenant and the Hunter

**Chapter 13:**

-

The president of the United States had a long night. The frustration was apparent through his wrinkled forehead, his clenched eyes, and the two fingers rubbing the stress point on the bridge of his nose.

His office was filled with every kind of representative, one for the Senate, the military, the government agents… anyone that would be relevant to the case at hand: Another report had come in earlier that day, telling of another Power-related outburst from a Covenant member, those same boys they had taken under their wings not months before. Decisions had to be made. Things had to be done to silence this…

"Mr. President," the Secretary of Defense argued with him. "Think of the negative press…"

"The F.B.I. can only do so much before we have to take action," he countered firmly. "I have had quite enough with these boys. Everywhere they go they wreak havoc and destruction. Do we wait until they actually _kill_ someone before we move?"

"Not to mention," the general chimed in. "That rumors of more of these 'witches' and 'warlocks' are popping up all around the United Kingdom-- and who knows where next. These 'Sons of Ipswich' could very well be just the beginning."

"What if we contain them?" the representative for the F.B.I., Caroline Brookes, said. "Like we did to their fifth member?"

"That's a bit extreme…" the secretary frowned.

"What, and killing them is _not_?" Caroline shot back. "I will _not_ make a motion for a recurrence of the Salem Witch Trials! These are _boys_, Mr. Arnold. Young _boys_!"

"I don't think you quite get it, Miss Brookes," the president said, getting up and going to his window. "This is now a national security matter. If we do not seize the situation while we can, we will all live to see history repeat itself firsthand."

Caroline doubled back.

"You sound like you are afraid of them, Mr. President."

The president whirled around in a flurry, his eyes boring through Caroline, scolding her in the worst way for her contempt.

"You are out of line, Miss Brookes," he warned. "You'd best watch yourself, or it won't be _you_ that will be paying for it…"

-

"_Hang on!" Caleb said, diving toward Reid's hand and grasping it firmly. "I got you!" _

_Caleb tried his best to release the clawed hands firm grip, Using his new power to slash at the beast's hand with an invisible knife. Once, then again… But it wasn't enough… _

_Finally, he heard Pogue and Tyler's footsteps racing to their aid._

"_Fight it, Reid!" Caleb commanded them. "Drive it back!"_

_Every set of eyes fell black, trying to release its hold on Reid's foot. The creature squealed in pain, stepping away from his tormentors. Caleb still refused to look at it, even then._

_Finally, Reid's shoe slipped off, allowing him enough time to scramble away. All four boys immediately took off into the night, running back the way they came as fast as they possibly could. They stopped at a familiar clearing, each panting in loss of breath through the excitement and exertions. _

"_Caleb," Reid asked with concern. "Did we set that thing loose?"_

"_I think so," the young boy replied with a sigh. "Which means, we should be able to send it back."_

"_What's that on your arm?" Tyler asked in fear, pointing to Reid's forearm. Upon his left arm, a mark appeared in vivid purple and black, first a circle, then a squarish outline around the circle._

"_I don't know…" Reid looked at Caleb, hoping for cheerful answers. Instead, Caleb exchanged glances with his blonde friend with worry very clear in his eyes._

-

Caleb shook out of his memory, wondering why this venture out into the night dirt road made him recall that night. He glanced at that mark, still on Reid to this day. It now seemed like a simple tattoo of black on his forearm, one he had grown to like over the years. They had all forgotten where it had come from, or the suspicions of dire consequences that could come from bearing such a mark.

"Where are we going?" Caleb asked for the tenth time that night, as Gabriel led the three Covenant boys through the trees. Caleb had called to check in on Tyler about an hour before, who said he was just on his way back. Caleb filled him in on where they were, and promised to be back to fill him in later, much to his dismay. Though, even if he had the time to tell Tyler about everything that had been happening these past few hours, he wasn't sure he'd be able to put it in words. He didn't rightly know what was going on himself. Gabriel was taking them off into the unknown, and it seemed like they had been driving, then walking, forever. He was worried for Sarah as well, and all this mysteriousness wasn't making him any less distressed.

"Have patience, Danvers," Gabriel hushed him. "I assure ya, it'll be worth it."

He led them to a house very much like the Danvers' colonial house back in Ipswich, though they knew they were still in Salem.

"This is my ancestors' old place," he explained as they walked.

He opened the door and let himself in, making his way through the dark house and out the back door. Around the side of the house, he unlocked a set of cellar doors, and stepped down the steep stairway.

Caleb's mouth hung open in awe at the place of meeting, a cathedral-like place, with marble floors and a large pit of fire in the center. Around the fire pit, a pentagram star was engraved into the stone floor. Fire lined the walls in built-in torches that lit up when they entered. Only one shelf of books was off to the side, cobwebbed and seemingly forgotten. Still, it was a site to behold. Caleb noticed the four stone seats that were arranged around the fire pit, just like theirs. They each had name etched into the head: Osbourne, Hobbs, Emerson, and Wilds. He put his hand on one, as if feeling it to make sure it was real.

"You…" Caleb breathed in shock. "You're part of another Covenant?"

Gabriel seemed to be barely paying attention, but rather went straight to the shelf and fingered through the books.

"I was…" he confessed sharply, as if he didn't like talking about it. "A long time ago."

As Gabriel was busy flipping through the old books, Caleb took that list that Scarlett Blair had given him, and read it over again. Each one of the names on the stone seats were on the list. He showed it to Pogue, who looked at him curiously. Gabriel was telling the truth.

"Which seat is yours?" Reid asked him. Gabriel pointed to the one farthest away from him.

"That one there."

The one with gothic letters spelling out the name 'Wilds'.

"Where are the others?" Pogue asked, motioning to the unaccounted-for seats.

Gabriel jerked his head up from his reading, and looked at Pogue with his harsh gray eyes.

"They're dead. I'm the last of the Revenant."

"What happened to them?" Reid urged him on.

Gabriel cast his gaze back into his book, and didn't answer. Caleb couldn't help but suspect that he might have killed them himself.

"Here we are," Gabriel said instead, coming back over to them with his finger in a large book. "Wood's Hole Warlocks: Subhuman incarnate in the form of a beast. Keeps to the woods fer it can have neither direct sunlight nor direct moonlight, therefore does it's bidding through a warlock host."

All eyes went on Reid, who spread his arms as if to say: "what?"

"Can only obtain a host through a state of life similar to his own," Gabriel went on. "Thus, the host must die before it can be inhabited… Garwin…?"

"Yeah, yeah," Reid replied, knowing what Gabriel was going to ask. "I died, came back, went crazy, so it all fits, yada, yada, yada. Still doesn't tell us who _you're_ supposed to be, Mr. All-Knowing."

Gabriel sighed, put the book back on the shelf and strolled over to the seat marked: 'Emerson'. He placed his hand upon it, stroking the top with a sorrowful hand.

"He was my best mate," Gabriel explained sadly. "Years before you all were even exposed, the witch hunters have been seekin' us. After the Salem hunts, a lot of us went back to Europe, where we all originated."

Caleb nodded in understanding, very interested in hearing of others like himself. He had always been taught that they were alone in this world. It was all they knew.

"One of the hunters found us," Gabriel continued. "I was the only one who survived."

"How can that be?" Caleb asked. "One human against _four_ Oath-Takers?"

Gabriel looked down at the floor, his eyes telling of dark memories he had been stifling for a long time.

"It was my fault," Gabriel confessed. "She blinded me with a false love. I thought it would be enough."

"'She'?" Reid repeated. "You got your asses kicked by a _girl_?"

"Ya have to understand, there are weapons developed over the centuries, created especially fer us. Some can even paralyze our power, and stimulate our emotion. She bore every trick there was."

Caleb and the others were silent, knowing that Gabriel was still obviously in pain over the subject, and let him take a moment. He glared hard at the blue-gray marble in the floor.

"I followed her all the way from England to make sure she doesn't strike again. I've vowed to protect you four with my life, to make up for what I could have stopped those years ago with my own Oath-Takers."

"So," Reid said, stepping forward. "You're, like, pledging your service to us? New bodyguard, sweet!"

"Shut up, Reid," Caleb snapped at him for making light of a serious situation.

"No, it's true," Gabriel waved Caleb down. "It's the only way I feel I can make up fer past sins. I'm sorry I didn't reveal myself to ya sooner, but I prefer to work in secret— ya understand why. She's kept me busy tryin' to keep her away from yer youngest."

"Tyler?" Pogue said curiously, looking to Caleb with confusion.

Caleb finally pieced the puzzle together.

"Layla…" Caleb realized. "The hunter is Layla…"

Gabriel looked at him directly to confirm this. Caleb cocked his head, studying the man before him.

"He seems pretty taken with her," Gabriel stated. "Understandable, fer all she has goin' fer her."

"You still love her, don't you?" Caleb assumed.

Gabriel leaned forward in his seat.

"Yes," he admitted in a single breath. "But I'm willin' to kill her if I have to, however reluctantly. Can ya believe it? She murders me best mates, yet I still love her the same."

"I believe it," Caleb said with a nod.

"Speaking of Layla," Gabriel said, standing up. "Can you be sure you know where Tyler is right now?"

"He was just on his way back to the dorms," Caleb shrugged. "Then he was just going to go out for a while…"

Suddenly his eyes went wide, and he locked his gaze back on Gabriel. Everyone exchanged quick glances with one another.

"Should we take my car or yours?" Gabriel asked calmly.

-

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	14. Chapter 14: The Daimon Pneuma

**Chapter 14:**

-

Layla snipped the last lock of hair from her eyes, and put the brown-colored contacts back in their case. Her disguise wasn't going to do much good anymore. Gabriel was onto her game. He always was too smart for his own good…

Tyler was going to pick her up any second now to go out. It was time to get ready. She stalked determinedly over to her closet, and swung the door open wide. Inside was her entire collection of witch-hunting gear, from potions to weapons, spellbooks to clothing; it was all here. The war would be upon them soon. And she was going to be on the side from which the bullets were firing.

And she was going to be paid handsomely for doing so.

It was time to gear up. She grabbed her trenchcoat and stuffed as many small weapons, potions and gadgets as she could hide inside of it. Then she looked herself in the mirror. Her blue eyes shone through in all their glory now, her hair dyed back to its normal blackish-brown. She was clad in tight, form-fitting leather, which made her feel all the more empowered. Then she slipped on her signature trenchcoat to finish the outfit off. It was the very same trenchcoat she had stolen from her last victim. Gabriel's closet comrade: Denny Emerson. Soon, she would be wearing Gabriel's.

-

Caleb hammered on Reid's seat as he sat in the row behind him, urging Reid to put his foot harder on the gas. Pogue looked equally distressed, leaning forward in his seat next to Caleb, staring at the road before them with an intense gaze. Meanwhile, Gabriel sat in the passenger's seat staring out the side window as if they were on a scenic route.

"Can't this heap go any faster?!" Caleb practically yelled at Reid. "Tyler's in trouble—have you wrapped your blonde head around that yet?"

"Hey, don't make me turn this Covenant-mobile around," Reid snapped.

"Geez!" Pogue exclaimed as he pounded into the side window on a harsh left turn. "He's driving enough like a maniac as it is!"

Reid snorted in anger.

"Since when did you two become the backseat-drivers from Hell?"

"Stop!" Gabriel suddenly exclaimed, just as a large bird-like creature crashed into the passenger side window. Reid slammed on the brakes, making everyone fall forward.

"I didn't need that part of my skull anyway," Pogue muttered, rubbing his forehead with pain. Caleb tried to peer through the window to see what Gabriel saw. Whatever that thing was, he couldn't see.

"What is it?" Caleb asked.

But soon, they _all_ saw what Gabriel saw. Caleb barely caught sight of the winged monster before he disappeared into the trees. His heart halted at the ghastly half-second shocker. The others were equally silent.

"What was that thing?" he was the first to whisper in their new silence.

"A distraction," Gabriel explained, stepping out from the vehicle. "Caleb, I'm goin' to need ya to come with me. Pogue and Reid must go on without us."

"Who died and made him king of the world?" Reid huffed, crossing his arms indignantly. Pogue just looked to his leader for a decision. Pogue still couldn't say he quite trusted Gabriel yet, and was hesitant to leave Caleb to fend for himself.

"Caleb?" he asked.

"Do as he says," Caleb said with a firm nod. "Go save Tyler—there isn't time to have a debate."

"Watch out for Layla," Gabriel warned. "She's been trained fer this fer the better part of her life. She's a tricky one."

Reid rolled his eyes and snickered in disbelief.

"_Puh-leez_…" he muttered.

Pogue nodded and hopped into the front seat, as Reid scowled at the two they were leaving behind, if only to show his displeasure at the entire ordeal. He then slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and sped off down the road.

Caleb looked to Gabriel for the next step.

"What exactly are we up against?"

"All myths are spawned from somewhere, just like us," Gabriel said in his usual mysterious way. "This would be the myth of the _daimon pneuma_."

Caleb quirked an eyebrow as they began their trek into the woods.

"Can't say I'm familiar with that legend," he admitted.

"A minion," Gabriel explained. "He was probably created by our friend the Warlock to guard whatever he's hiding in these trees."

"Then he could probably lead us right to him… and Sarah."

"Minions are mind-reading illusionists," Gabriel warned. "They can make your nightmares come alive and yer best dreams come true. So, whatever ye do…. Don't look it in the eye."

-

"I'm pretty left out," Tyler admitted, as he walked with Layla along the small cement path back to the Harvard building. Tyler kicked the dirt some as he walked, distressed by their subject at hand. Talking with Layla was making him realize things he had never thought of before. Like how under appreciated he was. Caleb was the leader, Pogue was his right hand man, and Reid got all the attention because he was screwing up all the time. Tyler seemed to always be left in the background, in everyone's shadow.

"That's a shame," Layla said, slipping his arm around his, and leaning close to him as they walked. "You have so much talent."

"You think?" Tyler said, taking in her praise with genuine surprise. He stopped walking to face her directly. "I know my Power isn't as great as the others', but…"

"Spirit counts for more, in my book," Layla said, her voice going lower. "And boy, you got the whole package."

She leaned closer. Tyler didn't notice the hand creeping around his back, a tight thin fist holding the wooden stake, tipped with a glowing purple substance.

"Wow," Tyler said breathlessly. "Layla, I… I don't think I've ever met someone quite like you…"

"I wouldn't disagree with you on that…" she said with a smirk, gently sneaking the knife even closer. Tyler took her advances fully, leaning for her as well, preparing for inevitable contact…

Suddenly, Tyler's very own Hummer screeched to a halt in the distance, then Reid and Pogue jumped out from it like it was wired to explode.

"TYLER!" Pogue called out.

Layla quickly pulled away, looking at their new guests with surprise. Several curious students stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the commotion.

"What are you doing?" Tyler demanded, a little annoyed at his moment with Layla being broken.

"Tyler, get the hell away from her!" Reid shouted. "She's trying to skewer you!"

Layla laughed.

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"If it is, then what are you hiding behind your back, huh?" Pogue nodded to her arm folded around her rear. She knew she was caught, so she saw no more reason to hide it.

"Oh, this?" Layla whipped out the stake for all to see. Tyler gasped and scrambled away from her so fast he stumbled a bit over his own feet.

"You psycho _bitch_!" he shot breathlessly. "You— you were…"

She took a step back.

"You wanna see psycho?" she asked, reaching both hands into her trench coat. "I'll _show_ you psycho…"

She pulled out two tiny vials filed with yellow liquid, one in each hand.

"Oooo!" Reid scoffed. "Beware the scary test tubes…"

Enraged by this, Layla spared no time flinging them at Reid and Pogue. As each vial flew through the air, their contents mixed, causing an explosive reaction. The blast threw Reid and Pogue backwards, and all students nearby screamed and ran as far away from the sudden battlefield as they could.

Pogue groaned as he pulled himself upright again, Reid following suit.

"Reid," Pogue commanded with a painful groan in his undertones. "Don't make fun of her again."

-

Caleb kept his eyes on Gabriel, watching him for any sudden movements. He, unlike his fellow Covenant members, was beginning to trust Gabriel. Everything he had said so far had been truth. Maybe he was just trying to help. Caleb suspected if it hadn't been for him they might have been dead by now.

"You have a strong Power in you," Gabriel stated as he led Caleb through the woods.

"You can sense that?" Caleb said in surprise. "You must be pretty strong yourself."

"My Revenant brothers willed their shares along to me before they died," Gabriel explained.

"Wow," Caleb said, impressed. "That's quite a lot. How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Gabriel said.

"Fight the addiction…" Caleb replied. "I have two shares to carry, and it kills me sometimes."

"What addiction?"

Caleb stopped in his tracks and looked at Gabriel directly. They exchanged funny looks with one another, each having a revelation of their own. Caleb didn't suspect that Gabriel was one to joke around at a time like this…

Suddenly a winged creature tackled Gabriel out of nowhere, bursting out of the sky and flinging itself at the man without mercy. Caleb heard Gabriel yell in pain as the gray demon creature bit his arm.

"Hang on, Gabriel!" Caleb yelled, putting his hand over his eyes so that he wouldn't see the beast.

"Caleb…" said a distant voice. It sounded like Sarah. Immediately Caleb forgot all prior obligations.

"Help me, Caleb…" it called out to him. Slowly, Caleb released his hold on his eyes, and looked off into the forest. There she was, clothed in light blue, almost white in the heavenly light above her. She looked like an angel, or some elven beauty, stepping softly through the forest in a haze-like glow.

"Caleb…" Sarah said with sadness in her voice. "He's got me, Caleb… Help me…!"

"Sarah…" Caleb breathed, walking toward his first love determinedly. "Just hang on… I'll save you… I will…"

-

**COVENANT 3 TRAILER IS UP NOW! YAY! FINALLY! Link is, as always, on my profile page. Check it out.  
Anyway, please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	15. Chapter 15: The Prophecy

**Chapter 15:**

-

"Tyler, get DOWN!" Reid yelled, grabbing Tyler's shirt and dragging him to the ground as another bomb flew his way. The Harvard campus field was abandoned, craters where bombs had torn up the earth were scattered across the green.

"Why is she doing this?" Tyler hissed to Reid, as they sought refuge behind the cover of a cement park bench. Pogue was off in the near distance, taking his turn at fending Layla off.

"She's a witch hunter, Ty," Reid explained. "She's being paid to hunt down the last of us."

"The '_last_' of us?" Tyler spat out. "Like, as in, there are _more_ of us?"

"--Look OUT!" Pogue called.

Suddenly a bomb split apart the bench putting hole in in-between their heads. Reid and Tyler dove out in opposite directions to avoid the worst of the blow. As they recovered, Tyler insolently wiped the cement dust off his shoulder, while Reid wiped the blood off his chin. He observed it with surprise.

"God, I'm _bleeding_," Reid realized with a hiss. "Oooh… They who make the Garwin bleed must _PAAYYY_!"

Reid jerked his hand to the same park bench, hurling it in her direction. It was easily avoided with a side flip, but she didn't anticipate the tree becoming animated and stabbing a branch through her coat, pinning it to the floor.

"Oh, _hell_ no," Layla growled, peering at the hole the branch had made in her trench coat. "You do _not_ mess with the coat."

Tyler seemed still lost as to what was going on. He always seemed to be lost on these sort of things lately.

"I heard you had a thing for coats," Pogue said. "The coats of your Oath-Taker victims."

"_Victims_?!" Tyler repeated in surprise.

"Heard that from Gabriel, I presume," Layla said, rolling up her sleeves. "That one has a talent for avoiding death when it stares him in the face."

Sirens of police cars were heard afar off. All they had to do was stall.

"The way I hear it," Pogue panted, behind a nearby tree. "You two had quite the fling."

"Layla?" Tyler asked with confusion, looking to her to seek out the truth. "That same Gabriel that was after you?"

Layla smirked and sent an airborne kiss to Tyler. She strutted around with a gun coming out of each of her sleeves. Soon, a set of spikes came out of the gloves of her knuckles, the same with her kneecaps and the heels of her boots.

"Those guns can't hurt us, you know," Pogue informed her.

"They're not for you," Layla replied as she reloaded them loudly. Reid and Pogue exchanged worried glances at this new development.

"It's nothing personal," she admitted with a shrug, cocking her gun threateningly, letting the bullet slide into the proper place. "I'm just saving the world from imminent destruction, that's all."

"'Imminent destruction'?" Tyler repeated. "What the hell is everyone _talking_ about?!"

"Ask your friend Gabe, he seems to know everything. But if I were you, I'd be more worried for your little girlies right now. I'm going to threaten their lives, in order to bring you all into custody."

Pogue and Reid were both alarmed at this, while Tyler seemed more distressed by the fact that this beautiful woman he had developed strong feelings for… was about to kill them and the people they knew.

She tauntingly twirled her guns in her hands, then tucked them away. She pulled out a knife for each hand instead.

"So, stop me," Layla dared. "If you can…"

-

"Caleb!" Gabriel yelled as he wrestled with the demon on the ground. Caleb was seemingly elsewhere, his mind entranced by something off in the distance. It was more than likely an illusion. His eyes were pure white, masked by whatever the Warlock had him see…

With a firm fist hammered into the minion's face, Gabriel shoved it away from him long enough to make a run for Caleb…

-

Caleb stretched out his hand for Sarah, her angelic appearance too much to withstand. He could feel her peace, but also her pain. She needed him. She needed him to be close to her. He wanted to hold her again more than anything.

"Follow me, Caleb," she said in a light voice, floating around the mist like she was walking on clouds.

Caleb could only obey.

As he ventured a little further, he saw something else. An older woman, with curly locks and bright red lipstick, a large contrast against her pale face. The woman nodded in encouragement, extending her hand to him, just like Sarah.

"Mom?" Caleb asked with disbelief.

That's when Caleb began to doubt his surroundings. His eyes had to be lying to him. Didn't Gabriel say that the minions were illusionists? This had to be fake. His mother was dead. Sarah was not here.

As soon as skepticism entered his mind, red fog drifted into the haze at Sarah's feet, then his mother evaporated in a puff of red smoke.

"Caleb!" he heard a voice yell, seemingly in the far distance. He recognized it.

"Gabriel?" Caleb said. "Where are you? I can't see you!"

"Right behind ya."

Caleb turned and suddenly the fog was gone, red smoke included. A badly beaten minion was writing on the ground near Gabriel's feet. Gabriel was holding him by the tail so that he wouldn't get away, like it was the most natural thing in the world to be dragging around a knocked-out demon.

"Nasty li'l buggers," Gabriel commented, motioning down at the minion with his head. "He didn't bother t' attack _you_… it was only after me."

"What does that tell us?" Caleb asked, rubbing his head in response to his sudden headache.

"That the Warlock wants ya alive. Most likely yer li'l Covenant friends too."

Suddenly, Caleb's cell phone rang. Caleb jumped at the sound, but immediately answered it.

"Yeah?" he said timidly, still getting over the shock of it all.

"_Caleb,_" said the voice on the other end."_This is Dr. Scarlett Blair, do you remember_?"

"Yeah, the researcher, I remember you."

"_You'd better come down to headquarters as soon as you can. And by 'as soon as you can', I mean, you had better get your asses down here _now._ The police are going to be after you and your friends any minute, because someone let them get wind of this. This is big, Danvers, and I mean really big._"

"How big we talking, Doctor?"

"_Were you aware that there was a witch hunter on your tail? And that witch hunter is on orders made from the President himself? They knew something that we didn't, Danvers, and I think I just found out what._"

Caleb jerked his head up to meet Gabriel's curious and contemplative eyes.

"We'll be right there."

-

Layla swung her knives around and attacked them each in turn, flipping and twirling like an acrobat. She bit off the cork of a vial filled with dark red liquid, and immersed her hands with it. Her eyes were set upon her target… that tiny mark on the back of Reid's neck. The boys tried to keep her back, but she was too fast, flipping right behind Reid before he had a chance to move, touched the tender mark on the back of his neck, spreading the liquid across his scar.

"This oughtta keep you boys busy," she said, as Reid's eyes immediately fell black, the all-too-familiar black veins spreading out from around his eyes. Dark liquid began to trickle down the edges of his mouth. His expression fell mischievous, and his gaze deadly.

"Aw, crap," Pogue muttered, taking a step backwards.

As if matters weren't bad enough, the police had arrived. Layla was smiling broadly, and Pogue could only imagine why.

"We want to see those hands in the air, kid!" one cop hanging out a car window with a megaphone yelled out.

"No, you don't understand--!"

"Heh heh…" Reid chuckled, looking to his hands surging with reddish energy. "Aha ha… HA HA HA HAAA!"

"Down on the ground, kid!" the cop went on shouting. "NOW!"

Suddenly, Reid faced the fleet of squad cars, putting the backs of his hands together and spreading them outward, as if parting a curtain aside. As he did so, every car door jerked open, and every cop flew out of their vehicle. A clench of his fists, and Reid made all the cars into balled up heaps of metal, some explosions erupting out of them as he did so. Raising his hands into the air, all the guns turned to dust in the officers' holsters.

Pogue and Tyler watched in awe, speechless at their Covenant's brother's huge display of power.

"Oh, my God…" Tyler breathed in wonder.

"He'll be evil for good now that the blood of the Warlock is upon him," Layla informed them. "He's become like the prophecy says. No one will be able to stop him… and I'll be hailed as a hero for killing him."

"Why?" Pogue asked. "Why do this? What did we ever do to you? And what is this 'prophecy'?"

**-**

**Sorry it took so long! Been busy writing my newest Covenant fic that I'm really excited about. I love writing fics that let me stretch out my arms of imagination. Go check it out—it's called 'The Chosen Ones' and it's going to be a doozy of a story. Anyhow, please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	16. Chapter 16: The Admonition

**Chapter 16:**

-

Caleb met up with Scarlett back at FBI headquarters, her worried face setting him immediately on edge. She gave Gabriel a strange look, then nodded firmly at the man she was expecting.

"Caleb," Scarlett said with a nod.

"This is Gabriel Wilds," Caleb introduced. She gave Gabriel a look.

"THE Gabriel Wilds?" Scarlett said, obviously impressed. "The Ireland Avenger? Gabriel the Fallen Angel?"

"Yeah, and all those other goofy names the press gave me," Gabriel waved her off. "My reputation precedes me, as does yers. Nice to finally meet the woman behind all the my trouble back in Ireland."

"Everyone has to make a living," Scarlett shrugged. "This way-- we don't have a lot of time to lose."

As Scarlett walked down narrow white hallways in long, determined steps, she explained the matter to them in a very official tone, speaking a lot with her hands.

"The situation was brought to our attention back in '72," Scarlett said, looking over her shoulder as she talked. "We put it aside, believing it to be simply legend."

"What 'situation'?" Caleb said, trying to force through the oncoming traffic of people to keep up with her fast pace. Gabriel seemed quite the natural at it, and weaved through the crowd with ease.

"Then when we found you and your Book of Damnation, I saw it for myself," she went on as if he hadn't said a thing. "The very last page is missing."

"No, it isn't," Caleb argued. "The book has been that way all our lives… all our forefather's lives…"

"That's because the page was taken out by one of the founding Covenant members: John Putnam," she countered, as she opened the door to the research room for them to enter. "Everyone assumed that it burned with Putnam at the stake, but evidence supports that it is still in existence."

"The Admonition," Gabriel caught on. "I've heard a' this. The Revenant was warned 'bout it by the Pledge."

"The Pledge?" Caleb repeated in confusion.

"Another Oath-Taker group, all females," Gabriel hurried to explain so they could move on. "So, what yer sayin' is--"

"--There are _girls_ out there with the Power?" Caleb sputtered. "I thought the Power diminished in women--?"

"_Later_, Caleb," Gabriel promised with an insistent tone, then turned back to Scarlett. "Are ya sayin' that ye think the legends are _true_?"

"Apparently," Scarlett confirmed. "The word is, that someone here let the press get wind of this 'prophecy' and had a field day. We've been spending every waking moment trying to keep it from getting out."

"Why?" Caleb demanded. "What's so bad about the lost page?"

Scarlett looked to Gabriel, assuming he would tell it better than she could. Gabriel looked at Caleb as if he was apologizing for what he was about to say.

"There was a legend amongst the European clans about a certain group a' Oath-Takers that would be so Powerful that it would eventually overtake 'em, makin' 'em evil and unstoppable enough t' do with the human race as they saw fit. When ye told me that yer Power was addictive, that it could kill ya… I was convinced that ye were these families. The only reason fer a cursed Power is because of fear a' what that person is capable of with_out_ those set limitations. Putnam must've put it on all of ye t' try and stop the prophecy from comin' true."

"My father used to tell me that legend…" Caleb sighed, mourning for a moment over his father's death. "So in laymen's terms," Caleb went on, trying his best to wrap his head around this new information. "If we didn't have this curse on us, it'd take the leash off our necks, and we'd take over the world."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Precise details of the extent of this apocalypse are on that last page," Scarlett explained. "Along with how to get that curse off. And the really _great_ news is, that page is now in the president's hands."

"Which means it's in Layla's hands," Gabriel added.

"You think the president is plotting against us?" Caleb asked with concern, then perked up thoughtfully. "You know, now that I think of it, Tyler _did_ mention that the president was overseeing the experimentation on him…!"

"And Layla seemed to know exactly how to make Reid go berserk back at the frat party," Gabriel spoke as if he was just realizing it himself. "With yer Covenant's fame a' late, it would be a bit hard t' simply take ye out. I'm thinkin' he's tryin' t' make ye turn evil so he has a reason t' kill ya. What he pro'lly doesn't realize is that this is exactly what that last page is fore_tellin'_."

"He's going to end up bringing the Admonition _about_ in order to _stop_ it," Scarlett caught on.

Caleb shook his head. He couldn't even imagine it. All this time, and they were the walking bearers of the Apocalypse? And the very curse they had despised all their lives was Putnam's doing? In order to save the world? It was simply too much to handle.

Gabriel frowned thoughtfully. It was a look Caleb had grown to know quite well. Something still wasn't right.

"What's on your mind?" Caleb asked him. Scarlett seemed interested in the answer herself.

"Blood puts on curses like that," Gabriel explained. "Blood takes it off. Layla must know this, which means she must be prepared with a dose of it—but Putnam's been deceased for years, and the Warlock is just a ghost…"

"Chase Collins…" Caleb caught on. "They must have gotten to him here."

"But Chase is locked down in high security," Scarlett said with a disagreeing shake of the head. "There's only a handful of people who have unlimited off-the-record access to him. Me, the president himself, my boss Mr. Calotri, Mrs. Brookes-- or Caroline as you know her—uh… Mr. Foxx, the general, and Mr. Arnold, the Secretary of Defense. The latter is who I have my money on. He's been trumpeting against you from the beginning."

"Keep tabs on them for me," Caleb commanded. "Find out who it is for sure. In the meantime, I think…" Caleb sighed, wishing there was some other way than what he had in mind. "--I think we had better take Chase with us. We can't risk them getting more of his blood."

Gabriel snickered in amusement, as if to say: _this oughtta be good_… but Scarlett nodded in determination.

"I'll make it happen," she promised. "I'll bring him out the rear entrance. You'd better be careful out there—I'll bet Mr. Foxx has the whole army after your Covenant."

"All the more reason to meet up with them right away," Caleb agreed, opening the door and cueing Gabriel to leave. "We'll meet you around the back."

-

The policeman backed away from Reid slowly, their eyes wide in terror at the marvels they had just witnessed. Reid grinned behind evil eyes, the black veins spreading more and more outward from his eyes the more he Used the almighty Power. Red smoke began to steam at his feet.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Reid demanded of Tyler and Pogue, pointing them with a condemning finger.

"Who…?" Tyler asked nervously, stepping away from Reid too. "E-- Elle?"

Reid grabbed Tyler by the collar and lifted him clear off his feet.

"WHERE _IS_ SHE?!"

Having given up on the idea he would receive any answers from Tyler, he threw him backward against the nearest tree, _hard_, Using to give him that extra force. He shoved Pogue out of his way with another blast, and started toward Harvard's main entrance.

"He's going after her!" Pogue moaned, rubbing his back in pain as he sat upright again. "And I don't think he's going to ask her to have dinner with him!"

Pogue looked to the flabbergasted police officers.

"He's going to kill the girl! _Do_ something!"

A couple officers shrugged and backed away like they wanted nothing more to do with them. An especially brave one shot the command right back at him.

"_You_ do something!" he said. "_You're_ the ones with the superpowers!"

Pogue rolled his eyes and concentrated on getting back on his feet. Tyler thought quickly, and pried his phone out of his back pocket, and quickly searching his number list for Elle's name. He punched the 'send' button and waited impatiently.

"Com'on, com'on, pick up!" he coaxed, as he watched Reid storming off through the long campus.

-

Elle, who was just in the middle of a pile of homework in the library, sighed as she answered her vibrating phone.

"Hi, Tyler, it's been a while."

"Elle!" Tyler practically shouted. "Reid's on a rampage. Get out of there, now!"

"_What_?" Elle said in surprise.

"Evil Reid is _coming after_ _you_-- RUN, Elle, _NOW_!"

Elle didn't even bother to grab her books, she just grabbed her purse and took off to the nearest door. Her sneakers skidded in her sudden stop, for that's when she saw the dark, haunting silhouette of a man through the foggy square windows of the library doors, the red smoke already entering through the small crack underneath. He was already here. There was no time.

Reid burst through the double doors with both hands, stepping in like he owned the place.

"Oh, my God!" the librarian shouted in fear at Reid's ghastly appearance, but she wouldn't get the chance to speak again, for Reid had already tapped the air in her direction, making her collapse unconscious like he had turned her entire brain system off. Several students nearby screamed, but they too, collapsed like rag dolls.

"Oh, _PUDDIN'_…!" Reid called out. "I know you're _IN_ here…!"

Elle breathed heavily from her hiding place behind a nearby shelf, her fear making her entire body shake. She heard the limp bodies of the other students hitting the floor.

"You shouldn't bother with hiding…" Reid hissed on. "I can _smell_ your… _sweat_…"

She heard his feet coming closer, and crouched down to her knees. Tears began to come to her eyes in raw terror. She crawled on her hands and knees to another row of shelves, just as Reid came around the corner.

"Call it an emotional, spiritual-- hell, even a _mental_ bond, if you will! But I can _feel_ you _close_…"

Elle crept to the end of the row, and put her back to the end of the shelf, pausing a moment and holding her breath. She could sense Reid's presence pass around the other end of the shelf.

"You are a thorn in my side that needs to be plucked out," Reid snapped angrily. "Because sadly enough, I can't have complete control over the _nicer_ part of me until you're dead—if there ever WAS a nicer part of me…"

She turned around to peer through the bookcase, and her eyes went wide when she saw Reid's legs two shelves down. As she looked, she saw his legs shift, his knees bend, and finally, his face smiling right back at hers.

"Well, _hi_, there…!"

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	17. Chapter 17: The Voice

**Chapter 17:**

-

Gabriel and Caleb stood by a certain door in the back of FBI headquarters, waiting for Scarlett to emerge with Chase. Caleb shifted in the cold wind. Gabriel seemed quite comfortable in the warmth of his heavy black trench coat, but he was restless, anxious, ready for action and not for standing around. The coat was a dingy, old thing, with a crest on the shoulder. The arms were ripped and the edges were torn, the leather barely hanging on for dear life.

"You always wear that coat?" Caleb asked, more for making conversation than his own curiosity.

Gabriel didn't seem to want to talk, since he didn't look at Caleb when he gave his reply.

"It's the trademark of the Revenant. We all wear one…" Gabriel scrunched his nose as he corrected himself. "_Used to_ wear one…"

Caleb felt sorry for Gabriel. Caleb didn't know what he would do if he lost the rest of the members of the Covenant. He wouldn't be whole without them, that was for certain. He imagined that's how Gabriel was feeling: like parts of him had died. Gabriel probably was only living for his revenge now.

Suddenly, Scarlett burst out of the back door, practically dragging Chase behind her.

"Oooh, Chase does enjoy a chase!" the crazy fifth member of the Covenant sang out.

"Com'on, com'on, let's move," Scarlett said hurriedly, waving at Caleb to follow her. Caleb rushed to his Mustang, though unsure what they were running away from.

"My car only has two seats," Caleb realized, looking at Scarlett worriedly. Gabriel pushed him aside to give himself passage.

"Allow me," he said emotionlessly, waving his hand. Caleb cringed as he watched his prize car slowly stretch, the metal screeching as it spread. The front seats were cloned to put in the back, and thus Caleb's convertible had a rumble seat.

"Oh, very clever," Chase complimented, and Gabriel promptly told him to shut up.

"Keys," Gabriel demanded of Caleb, so Caleb tossed them to him, his mouth wide in amazement as his effortless demonstration of the Power. He didn't even think it was close to capable of such a feat.

Security guards came pouring out the back door, just as Gabriel started the car.

"Go!" Scarlett shouted, so Gabriel peeled out of the parking space, the tires squealing in protest and the rubber making smoke and black lines on the cement floor.

-

"REID! STOP!" Tyler yelled across the library at his friend. Pogue skidded to a halt just behind him. Elle scooted away quickly while Reid glared at his friends.

"It really grinds my gears when I get interrupted with a girl. Just so you know."

Reid clenched the air in his fingertips, his chest heaving as he gathered his full strength of energy. Slowly he brought his hands together, liquid energy forming out of thin air, dark in color, so powerful it made his hands smoke and sizzle. The walls began to hiss and turn black like an invisible fire was burning them from the inside out. Steam came out of Reid, as the black veins coming from his already darkened eyes grew a little more outward.

"Holy…"Tyler breathed in disbelief. "That's not natural… Is that natural? Pogue, what's happening to him?"

Pogue shook his head, paralyzed in awe. He had the look of a deer when it was in the presence of oncoming headlights. He had enough sense to know that force Reid held in his hands would surely kill them both.

Suddenly, Reid hurled the ball of deadly energy upward, causing a massive explosion above their heads. As dust and ash rained down from above, Reid fell to his knees, clutching his head and screaming in pain.

"Ahhhh!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "NOOO!"

Elle took his distraction as an opportunity to scramble to her feet and run for safety amongst Tyler and Pogue.

"Elle, let's go while we still can," Tyler said, trying to grab at Elle's arm. She didn't argue.

"Wait," Pogue commanded, his eyes locked on his blond friend, in pain on the distant floor. Tyler and Elle stopped to watch as well. Reid lifted his head to look to them, his eyes in such pain and sorrow as they hadn't witnessed in him before. He reached out to them, his quivering hand straining to do so. His eyes were flickering from black to his normal blue, tears pouring from them from his exertions.

"Help… me…!" Reid begged of them. "_Please_…"

Then his head jerked to one side, the black in them returning.

"NO!" he said in a hiss. "Kill…Kill them…! NO!"

"He's fighting it…" Pogue realized. "I thought crazy girl said he was bad permanently?"

"I guess Reid has more good in him than we thought," Tyler offered.

"Or just more stubbornness," Pogue countered. Tyler, Pogue, and Elle could only watch as Reid fought a war against his own mind.

"Get UP you fool!" Reid went on in a crackling voice just above a whisper. "I have you. I own your SOUL."

"NO!" Reid answered himself, in a voice that sounded more like his own. Reid clutched the squarish mark on his arm and shrieked in horrendous pain, as it burned orange on his skin. More smoke sizzled through his finger's hold.

"I've had this body… since you were thirteen," the hissing voice returned. "You're MINE! NOW GET _UP_!"

"NO!" Reid cried out. "Let me go, you bastard!"

Reid threw himself forward on his hands and knees, clutching the ground, desperate for any strength left in him.

"We can help him," Pogue announced. "Tyler, com'on."

Tyler shook his head no in fear.

"Tyler!" Pogue scolded. "_Look_ at him!"

Reid began to shiver, the veins in his neck and hands beginning to turn dark as well.

"Ahhh!" Reid called out in pain, his back jerking upward like an angry housecat.

Pogue looked to the girl that loved Reid most. Elle stepped forward, knowing what she had to do before Pogue even told her. Tyler made to go after her, to call for her to stop, but Pogue put up a hand to make him wait.

"Reid," Elle said, taking a single slow step at a time. Her breath was ragged, her outstretched hands shaking, her heart pounding a beat in her chest. Her fear was obvious.

"I know you won't hurt me," Elle told him. "I trust you, wherever you are inside there."

Reid jerked like a sudden surge of electrocution was pulsing through him every moment or so.

"Reid, push it aside," Elle commanded. "Make him stop."

Reid cried out again, picking himself up to his feet. Still black-eyed, he faced Elle.

"Pogue…" Tyler muttered in worry, but still Pogue held him back.

"Wait for it," Pogue ordered.

"Reid, you don't want to hurt me," Elle went on. "You'd never forgive yourself if you did."

Reid stretched his hands to her neck, slowly, shaking in the exertion of trying to fight his own strength. Electricity tingled through his fingers like a web.

"Don't let him hurt me, Reid," Elle begged, her fear coming out through her cracking voice. "This isn't you, it's him…"

The deadly hands were coming dangerously close, and Elle began to doubt herself, wondering if she would be dying very soon.

"Pogue!" Tyler asked again.

"_Wait_…"

Reid's eyes began to flicker, the black veins spreading further from them. His inky teeth were grinding in his pain. The tiny hairs on Elle's neck began to prickle as his hands came so close she could almost feel them.

"Don't let him boss you around," Elle pleaded. "My Reid wouldn't take that from _anybody_."

A few painstakingly long moments were spent in suspended intensity. Then, Reid let out a large breath. Very gradually, Reid's hands lowered. Pogue and Tyler sighed in relief.

"Elle…" Reid breathed.

"Now!" Pogue yelled, and joined Tyler in shooting a white energy at Reid with every ounce of strength they possessed. The smoky energy acted like a drug, calming Reid down. His shoulder's relaxed, and his head bowed as he stood shakily.

After a moment, red smoke rose at his feet, and twin horns began to twirl out from his forehead. Reid's face was now almost all black from the spread of the veins from his eyes.

"_Kill_ _her_…" the otherworldly voice inside Reid whispered through his lips. The dark, sinister Reid smiled an evil half-smirk.

"NOO!" Tyler shouted, knowing exactly what was coming next. Reid lifted his hands to Elle's face and blasted, full force.

-

Gabriel set Chase down on one of the stone chairs back at the Danvers' Pentagram. Scarlett had a field day once she caught sight of all the books in the room, and Caleb had to pull her focus back to the case at hand.

"Thanks for helping us get him out, Scarlett. Now Layla is the only one with access to the Putnam blood to turn us into monsters," Caleb stated.

"For all we know," Scarlett added.

"Leave Layla t' me," Gabriel volunteered. "I already know how she works. Go after yer friends, and get Reid under control. If the army gets t' him first, we're goin' t' have ourselves a war, and we don't want that."

"Yeah, war, very bad," Caleb agreed with a firm nod. "Scarlett, feast on the books all you like, but make sure Chase stays here. Call me immediately if there's trouble."

Scarlett motioned a passive compliance, and Gabriel and Caleb ran back up the stairs and hurried on their way. Who knew what hell Reid was raising even as they spoke…

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	18. Chapter 18: The Turn

**A/N: This Rogue is getting back to her roots, ya'll. Feels good to be home, where I am welcome, in the world of Covenant fiction. Enjoy.**

**~RR~**

**Chapter 18: The Turn**

**~RR~**

The blockade of police stood outside the quiet doors of Harvard, where the Covenant boys had gone in but had yet to come out. All that was seen was flashes of blue light in the halls, through the windows… occasional pounds of energy into the earth, but otherwise no sign of their rogue wizards.

Then, very abruptly, Pogue burst out the front door of the school, waving his hands violently in the air and shouting at the top of his lungs. His voice was drowned out by the dozens of other students screaming and running for their lives, but as he got closer, his voice became distinct.

"RUN, GET OUT OF HERE!"

Tyler was the last of the students to escape slowed by the weight of an unconscious Elle in his arms.

"DON'T THINK, JUST GO!" Tyler backed him up, but no officer moved in the otherwise silent campus. As the believing students took off into the parking lot, the cops waited on edge, staring at the door as a rumbling became heard, like that of an oncoming earthquake.

Pogue patted the back of the officer that was closest to him encouragingly.

"You might want to call the tanks."

Tyler and Pogue ran full speed down the length of the parking lot, to the main road, just as Caleb came speeding down it in his Mustang. The wheels smoked as they screeched to a halt, and Caleb jumped out of his seat with alarm in his eyes.

"Why is Elle unconscious?" he demanded. "Where's Reid? Why is she _smoking_?"

"Um… Now's not really the greatest time…" Pogue fidgeted, just as an earth-shaking boom was heard. "We really have to get out of here."

Caleb's phone rang loudly in his pocket, and he reached to answer it.

"Caleb, seriously, there's no time-" Tyler tried to protest but Caleb had already answered.

"It's Scarlett, I gotta take this."

"Caleb!" Pogue started, then sighed as Caleb put up a finger to stop them from interrupting.

"Hello?" Caleb ignored them. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I thought he was the sensible one?" Pogue muttered to Tyler, and rolled his eyes. An explosion sounded next, with smoke and a large blast seen behind Caleb's back.

"Uh, Caleb, _really_…" Tyler tried again.

"What do you mean you LOST CHASE?"

In the distance, another loud boom sounded, followed by a distant siren blaring, which drew closer and closer. Caleb looked up just in time to dive away from his car as the flying police vehicle smashed perfectly straight onto it with a loud:

_CRASH_!

Caleb stared at his very dead vehicle and quickly decided that was a lot more power involved in fixing it than when he had that crash into the big rig. He reached out to the cell phone he had dropped in his frantic fall to the asphalt, and brought it gently back to his ear.

"I'm going to have to call you back, Scarlett…" Caleb groaned, then pressed the end button to hang up. Slowly, he got back to his feet. "Okay, I'm all ears. Someone want to tell me what the HELL is going on here?"

A roar sounded next, and another crash. Caleb watched the faces of his two Covenant brothers as they fell into terror and despair, staring beyond him at something he couldn't begin to fathom.

"Caleb…" Tyler whispered, sounding tearful in fear.

Caleb slowly turned around, gazing upon the creature that Reid had become, not leaving a bit of the Reid they once knew. The beast before them was large, perhaps two times the height of Reid, but still lean, his skin a grayish-black in color, with a rubbery-looking texture. His fingers had grown huge, to hold the sword-like fingernails that proceeded from them. His eyes were still black, the black substance still dripping from his now fang-like teeth. Two very prominent rams horns curled from his forehead. Black smoke circled around his demon-like feet.

The creature was still making himself distracted with the police, stabbing a few with it's claws, blasting a few away with it's phenomenal power, biting off the head of another. Their screams off horror filled their ears, and Caleb frowned in sorrow at the ghastliness he was witnessing.

"Guys, we have to stop him before he hurts or kills any more people," Pogue spoke to his friends from behind Caleb. Caleb seemed lost in thought, staring at the monster wreaking havoc before him and lost as to what to do about it.

"But this is Reid!" Tyler protested. "We can save him, he's still _in_ there!"

"Tyler, _look_ at him!" Pogue shouted. "Whatever was left of our Reid died when we lost him the first time. We have to stop him before we become like him and there's no hope for the rest of mankind. Right, Caleb?"

Caleb shook his head, the pressure on for him to make a decision, and not being able to settle on one through his frantic thoughts.

"But Elle almost got through to him!" Tyler protested desperately. "He's still fighting this- We can't just give up on our _BROTHER_! Caleb?"

Caleb still remained silent.

"Yeah," Pogue was in Tyler's face now. "But he loved Elle more than life itself and you and I both saw what he did to her! Just like he did to Sarah, and God knows Kate might be next. He's my best friend too, but I, for one, am NOT going to let that happen!"

Pogue took off running towards the beast, waking Caleb up from his panic attack.

"POGUE, WAIT!" Caleb called out, and started to go after him, but hesitated long enough to speak to Tyler.

"Get Elle far away from here," Caleb commanded Tyler. "And watch your back. Then find Gabriel- we're going to need all the help we can get!"

"But-!" Tyler started.

"Go!" Caleb ordered. "We're going to try to stop Reid, not kill him. Just go!"

Without another word, Tyler took charge, and ran off, not once looking back.

"Hello, handsome," Pogue said as he approached the creature. "So, it sucks that you had to host yourself onto my dead friend to come out and play, but hey, you're here now. Let's make the best of it."

The beast turned to Pogue, letting its shiny black eyes gaze downward upon him. Then it simply went back to what it was doing, like Pogue was no more than a bug beneath him and not worth his attention.

So, Pogue rolled up a good ball of energy, hurling it at the beast with full force. Caleb watched as it connected with the beast, making it stumble a bit under the force. It turned to Pogue once more, hissing this time, before continuing to fight the cops. Soon a SWAT van drove up, along with some military Humvees, but it would do them no good. The beast would not be stopped.

"Why is it just ignoring me?" Pogue asked Caleb, as his elder caught up to stand by his side. "Why won't it fight me?"

"Maybe it knows," Caleb panted through loss of breath from running. "Maybe it knows we're one of _him_."

Pogue and Caleb exchanged glances at that.

"Your blast threw it off-balance," Caleb observed. "Even if it won't face us, maybe we can at least steer it away from this crowd."

**~RR~**

Tyler ran with all the strength he had in him, whilst carrying Elle in his arms and powering through the cramps in his sides and the aching in his feet and lungs. Little by little his fatigue began to overtake him, making him fall slower with each step. With the forest on both sides of him, fear began to creep in on him too. Fear quickly turned to paranoia, with every quivering bush and bustling tree grabbing at his attention, and he could swear he felt the sneaking suspicion that someone was watching him.

"Tyler?" Elle groaned at she began to wake up. "What happened?"

"Elle!" Tyler said excitedly. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

"Can you lie me down? Please. Put me down."

"Yeah, uh, sure," Tyler said, bending down so he could put her down on the side of the road. As he started to straighten back up, she put up a hand to stop him.

"Lie with me," she suddenly demanded.

Tyler was immediately alarmed.

"What?"

"Tyler," Elle said, her voice going low and seductive. "I've always wanted you… Lie here with me, rest a while…"

As she started to reach for the button of her shirt to take it off, Tyler suddenly jumped away from her, afraid.

"What the hell? This isn't right- you like Reid!"

"No, Tyler," she cooed, as she exited her shirt and her black bra showed in plain view. "It's always been you. You had me first… It's your right to have me last…"

Tyler was so taken aback and shocked that his brain was starting to fizzle and not compute much.

That's when he realized that he was feeling pain. A sharp pain in his leg.

Suddenly he felt awakened from a daze, and realized that some strange winged beast was gnawing on his left thigh, and Elle was still quite unconscious on the ground on the side of the road, fully clothed.

Tyler screamed aloud in the quick onset of intense pain as the illusion faded and reality was forcefully set back in.

"AHHH!"

He tried his best to get the beast away from him, even Using a bit to give him added strength, but he knew his power wasn't as vast as the other members of the Covenant, and no match for this demon beast.

As if matters could get any worse, Tyler stopped screaming when he saw a horrible sight.

Layla stood afar off down the road, smiling hungrily like a lioness to a sickly gazelle.

**~RR~**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
-RedRogue**


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